Sarah's Beginning
by Sarah Mercury
Summary: A newcomer to the team with a sordid past and a story to tell. Rated for some language. Comments, suggestions and constructive criticism appriciated. I'm not good at titling things, so suggestions for this story are greatly appriciated.
1. Prologue

**Author's Notes**: This is not my first Animorphs fan fiction, but it _is_ the first one I posted to I got into Animorphs when I was in Grade 5 (I'm almost 21 years old now) and ever since then I've been developing this character. I hope she's made her way onto paper as easily as I hope she has. :P

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Animorphs. That honour goes to the illustrious K.A. Applegate. May the world and all who live in it bless and keep this woman, who has written the best series on Earth, and has not only fueled my desire for reading and writing, but has actually inspired me to become an English Major. I hope one day she realizes how much of an inpact on my life she has made.

* * *

It was raining really hard. Thunder and lightning happened at random intervals. I was tagging alongside the Cop as he and I approached the huge manor. An old woman came out to greet us, fighting the wind with her umbrella.

"I found her wandering around outside the mall in the rain," the Cop told the woman when she came within ear shot. He almost had to yell to get above the noise of the storm.

"At this time of night?" she replied. "Where are her parents?"

"In all the ramblings she was making, I figured she had no parents."

"Did they abandon her? Did they die?"

"I don't know! I just found her on a patrol. I think she might be delusional."

They were talking as if I wasn't there; as if I wasn't just standing there, beside the Cop, soaked to the bone. The skin-tight T-Shirt and shorts I was wearing didn't fight the cold, either. I didn't shiver, though. That would have been a sign of weakness. I didn't relax my facial features, either, which could be why the elderly woman wouldn't look right at me.

My flip-flops were all but ruined. I don't even remember where I found them. My short, dark-brown hair was all but glued to my head. In a very sporadic manner, I might add. My dark, dim, dismal eyes glared at the two adults discussing my future.

At one point in the conversation, the old woman finally mustered the courage to look at me and ask, "Where do you live?"

I barely moved when I replied, "No where." I guess my tone scared her, because she had a look of fear on her face and she jerked away from me. She looked back at the Cop.

"I don't want to take her to the station. Do you know how much paperwork that is? And I promised the kids I'd rent a movie we could all watch tonight."

"I'm not sure my facilities could hold her. We're over packed as it is."

"I promise I'll come back tomorrow so we can iron out the details then. For now, I think all three of us are tired."

The Cop looked down at me and smiled. I just glared at him. The old woman sighed. "Alright. I'll take her for now."

"Thanks. Have a good night." The Cop tipped his hat, patted me on the shoulder and walked back to his patrol car. The rain was still hammering down, even as the Cop got in his car and drove away.

The old lady and I stood in the driveway, in the rain, for a long time, before she said, "Let's get inside. I'll make some hot cocoa," and proceeded to walk into the large manor.

I stood for only a few moments longer, until I called to her, "I wish to attend school."

The lady stopped and looked back. "You want to go to school? Really?"

"I wish to learn things."

"But this is The Hole. No kids here attend school."

"I'll be the exception."

She looked at me, as if analyzing me. I don't think she believed me at first. The look on my face must have shown I wasn't kidding. She stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before finally nodding. "Alright. Tomorrow, I'll get you enrolled in school."

"Thank you," I said, pitifully. It was the first time I said that in a long, long time…


	2. Chapter 1

My name is Sarah. It's not my real name. I don't know what my real name is. The story behind Sarah is a very long story, of which I will tell you. I will tell you everything about me. But it is a long story, so I hope you are comfortable.

I live in a place called The Hole. This is a place where homeless, parentless, teenaged children live. Technically, I'm an orphan. But no one wants to adopt a teenager, so we all live in The Hole.

It's also a breeding ground for the worst kinds of people. People who do drugs and deal them, who rape women, abuse others and commit disgusting, inhuman acts against nature, among other things. I do none of these things. I spend most of my time in my shabby excuse of a room, locked away from everything. People have tried to sell me drugs, and also tried to rape me, but I have broken most of their bones. Now, no one bothers me.

Today is my first day of school. The old lady enrolled me a week ago, but I had to wait until the new term to start before I could officially go. Everyone here was shocked when they realized I seriously was going to school. No one in The Hole goes to school.

The old lady offered to walk me to school. I think in the week of my being in her manor she has taken a liking to me. She has begun to look me in the eye more often, despite my look being described as the Look of Satan. I declined her offer, thanked her, and left on my own for school.

Another thing you need to know about me is that I hate sunny days. It reminds me of home. And today was a bright, sunny day.

Yes, I said home. I did have a home at one point. I am thirteen years old, after all. Of course I had a home. I will tell you of that, as well. But like all stories, I must start at the beginning.

It took me half an hour to walk to the school. I had no books, but I did have a notepad and a pencil. I'm not sure if I would need it. There was no one around when I reached the front doors, but when I opened them, I noticed everyone.

There was a hush. I barged in the school like I owned it. My scowl and dark eyes made everyone back up. There was a slight breeze that swept around my thin, damaged hair. I stood in the doorway for only a moment, taking in the scenery, glaring at the people around me, before I moved away. It was so quiet when I walked in; it was as if someone had swallowed all the noise. That someone must have been me.

Was it because I was new, or because of my presence? I had an aura about me that frightened others, which I wasn't sorry about. The more fear I strike in others, the less they bother me.

I was, however, lost. And the only way to get to where I needed to go was to ask for directions. I walked up to someone and I barely got within hearing range when he backed up and almost ran.

Fine. No help there. Three other times resulted in almost the same thing. Someone called me a bad name, but I took no heed of it. I did, however, see a small group of children by some lockers chatting. I was hoping at least one of them could help me.

I walked up to the group. As soon as I approached, the four of them looked at me in unison, but none of them walked away from me. They each looked at me a different way: the one who looked in charge was analyzing me; the rather beautiful girl tried to mirror my glare, unsuccessfully; the other boy was afraid of me; the other girl looked at me like I was her friend. It was that look that took me aback. I almost forgot the reason I came over to them.

"What do you want?" demanded the pretty blonde.

"I want to know where the science room is."

"Which one?"

"Obviously the one where the classes are being held."

"Are you stupid or something? There's more than one science class." She added, "Moron."

I glared at her. "At least I don't look like white trash."

"Whoops!" said the goofy-looking boy. "That was a _bad_ thing to say to her!"

The blonde grabbed my collar. "What did you say, you -!"

"Let go of me." It was a simple statement. I didn't mean it to be like a threat. Really. But I forgot that when I say things, they always come out like I'm going to follow it with an attack. Either way, she let go of me without a hesitation. Maybe it was my look. My already dark eyes, I could see in the reflection of the lockers, got to the point where they matched my pupils. I almost frightened myself. But I didn't relax my face. Three of them were already backing up slightly.

But one didn't. She said, "I'll show you to your classroom, if you want. What room is it in?"

"Cassie, are you nuts?" asked the boy. "You do realize she's Death, right?"

I ignored him. "Room 271."

"Oh, that's my science class, too. I'll walk you." The school bell then rang. While people were madly dashing to their classrooms, she began to veer away from the other three, who were all looking at her like she was insane. I just followed, for lack of anything better to do. I still didn't know where it was, and she was showing me, not telling me.

"So you're new, huh?" she asked, as we walked down halls, up stairs, passed lockers and around frightened little children. I said nothing. How annoying: because there was silence, she automatically assumed I wanted conversation. "I'm Cassie, by the way. What's your name?"

Again, I said nothing. She finally got the hint and stopped talking to me. When we reached the room, I took note of the directions and walked inside. The teacher was already at the front.

"Cassie, you're late."

"I was showing the new student where the class was."

"Oh, you're _joking_!" someone shouted. The class turned to see a rather large boy jump up. "She's not seriously in this class, is she?"

"Sit down, Billy," said the teacher. She waved me in. "Come in and sit down somewhere."

Cassie took her chair near the front of the class. She waved me over to the only available chair left, which was next to her. I sighed and sat down. I could hear muttering behind me: things like what is she doing here, she's a crazy witch, where did she come from, among various insulting phrases. All of this I paid no heed.

The teacher began, "Open your books to the sixth chapter, please." The sound of rustling paper was heard, but I just folded my hands on my desk. Cassie was set up with her own notepad and pencil, waiting for further instruction.

The teacher glared at me. "Where's your textbook?"

"I don't need one."

"This is a very important chapter about very difficult topics. You will need a textbook."

"I guarantee I will not."

I think some people in the class were impressed. Others were probably just waiting to see if the teacher would explode on me. Some laughed. The teacher said simply, "Come to the board and draw a diagram of Dichloromethane." She held the chalk out to me.

Most of the class asked, in hushed tones, "What's that?" but I just got up, walked to the front, took the chalk, moved to the front of the board, thought for a second, and began the diagram. It wasn't difficult. It wasn't as if I hadn't done this before. I drew a few circles with a few letters, mostly Cs, and finished in a matter of seconds.

I believe the teacher was the most stunned. I don't think she expected me to know that. But she got back to the front, looking a bit embarrassed, took the chalk from me and relieved me back to my desk. She no longer pestered me about not having a textbook.

For the bulk of the class, she just discussed what was in the chapter. A bunch of stuff I already knew, mixed with meaningless descriptions, stupid little facts, and other things that bored me. Finally, near the end of the class, the teacher said, "Pair up and go to one of the counters over there. We're going to do an experiment."

I stood up and looked around. People were backing away from me as much as they could. Good: hopefully the teacher would declare I could be on my own. But Cassie came to my side and asked, "Wanna be partners?"

I looked at her, sighed, but said nothing. She assumed that meant yes. She took me to a counter and we waiting for the teacher to give us further instruction. She began handing out papers with chemical ingredients on it. "You will turn the one chemical into the other chemical by following those instructions exactly get that out of your _hair_ Billy!"

I looked at the large boy in the class and saw him take a stir stick out of his hair. Everyone around him was laughing. I didn't. If he wanted to create a chemical reaction on his head, let him.

"I'll get the ingredients, if you want," offered Cassie. I said nothing, so she went to the cupboards and shifted around other kids to get what was needed for the experiment. I waited for her. Other partners were frantically taking notes, jotting things down, mixing things, but not me. I waited for Cassie.

She put all the things she brought on the table: chemicals, beakers, stir sticks, etc. I took a beaker, held it up at eye level and began to pour one chemical in it. "Um, maybe we should use a measuring system?" Cassie suggested. I ignored her, and proceeded to put the other chemical in. Then I added some water, and filtered it over the filtration system Cassie brought. She just watched. After a while, I took the filtered chemical and boiled it, then filtered it again.

Cassie looked worried at me. "That's not what it says in the instructions," she pointed out.

Ignoring her, I took the second filtered chemical and put it in the test tube provided. I handed the finished product to Cassie. It would have been more impressive, but the chemicals were watered-down.

She looked at me oddly. I couldn't describe it, though. I've never seen that look before. Was she impressed? Scared? Worried? Nevertheless, she took my test tube and put the tape with our names across it, then put it in the canister on the teacher's desk. Ours was the first one there for a long time…


	3. Chapter 2

People are always saying that children should be smart; that they should always live up to their exact potential. Apparently that's a myth or a lie. I did exactly that and now everyone was afraid of me. Not that I cared, but it was rather annoying being called rude things just because I did an experiment exactly correct without reading instructions or measuring out chemicals. It's not like I haven't done it before.

The only person who spoke to me on an equal level was Cassie. Without my consent, she offered to walk me to my next class, which was Math. She never stopped talking about random things, like family, food and other garbage I had no interest in. When we finally reached my destination, I was pleased that she wasn't joining me.

I wasn't pleased, however, to find that her friend was their instead: the goofy boy who was now sitting on the desk, with a crowd around him, acting like an idiot. When I walked in, it was as if a cold wind swept through. Everyone turned to look at me. The goofy boy said, "Oh, no, please tell me you're not in this class!"

"Marco, get off the table," scored the teacher. The boy sat in his chair, still groaning at me. The teacher looked at me. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sarah," I replied.

"Wow, Death has a girl name," mocked Marco. I glowered at him, and he instantly stopped talking.

"Well sit down somewhere." I took the chair farthest from Marco and sat in it. Everyone gave me a wide enough berth, so I was the only one in the row, practically. "We will now have a pop quiz."

"What? No way; you promised no more pop quizzes!" Marco said.

"I promised no more pop quizzes so long as you all passed in your homework on time. But you didn't, so now we're having a pop quiz." The whole class groaned. The teacher began handing out the quizzes and when he got to me, he neglected to pass one to me. "You're new, so you're excused this time."

"I would like a quiz, sir," I said.

"You would _like_ a quiz?" Marco asked. "Are you insane?" I said nothing. The teacher gave me a quiz.

I looked at it briefly. It was a simple quiz; mere children's questions. I took my pencil and began writing the answers. I assumed the teacher wanted all solutions shown, so I did so. I finished my quiz in five minutes. I put my pencil down, folded my hands on the desk and awaited further instruction. Everyone else was writing for a long time before someone else finished.

The teacher took my test and looked over it. I think he was shocked that I was correct in all my answers, despite my finishing so quickly. He coughed and went to collect the other tests. Marco sneered at me. "Oh, we have a brown noser, I see."

"Because I finished first or because I'm smarter than you?" I asked. The class snickered a bit and Marco, cheeks red, turned away from me to face the teacher.

"I see most of you did poorly, as usual," said the teacher. He glanced at me quickly. Was I the only one who passed? "Today's lesson is in chapter twelve."

He didn't scorn me for not bringing a textbook. In fact, he didn't really look at me all class. It was a rather dull class, of which I knew all the answers to the questions he asked or wrote on the board. I was glad when the bell for lunch rang.

I was one of the last people to leave the class. Marco darted out as soon as the bell rang. No doubt to go to his friends. I made my way passed rushing children to where the cafeteria was. The old lady had given me some money for lunch, and I used it to buy soup. I took it to an empty table and sat down, facing the whole room, so that no one could sneak up on me. There wasn't much fear of that anyway, considering they all stayed away from me. Good. Better for me.

I ate my soup and saw Cassie walk in with her blonde friend. Cassie noticed me and smiled. I just ate my soup. I watched them go to the café lady and get some food, or what I assumed was food, and then they sat down at another table, somewhat in front of me.

Marco and his friend, the boy who looked in charge, came in shortly thereafter. Upon seeing me, Marco darted his eyes away and walked faster to the café lady. His friend looked at me and analyzed me again. I was getting annoyed with that look.

The two of them sat with Cassie and the other girl and instantly started talking. I watched them for a little bit, until they all hunched in together, glanced quickly at me, and spoke in hushed tones. I guessed they were talking about me.

Cassie and Marco were no doubt relaying information on how I acted when I was in their classes. The other two nodded several times. This went on for well over fifteen minutes, before they went back to sitting normally and talking loudly about video games, superheroes and other things.

I had finished my soup. I got up to leave, and as soon as I did, Cassie got up and said, "Come sit with us, Sarah."

She never knew my name. Marco did, though. That confirmed my belief that they were talking about me. I just looked at her and made my way out of the cafeteria. I think that made Marco happy because when I got out of what he believed was ear shot, he said, "I don't want her sitting with us!"

There was still a long time before next class. I was walking down the hall a bit when I heard someone following me. I turned around and saw Cassie. "Hi!" she said.

I glowered and moved on. She just jogged up next to me. "Stop following me."

"She speaks! I didn't think you'd say a word to me."

"I was trying not to."

"Well, I know what makes you talk then: just gotta bother the heck out of you."

"I'd rather you didn't."

"Hey, come on. I'm trying to be nice here."

"I never asked for your niceness. I just want to be left alone."

"Why?"

"Because I do!" I said that a little louder than I had meant. I think Cassie was hurt. Good. Now she'll leave me alone.

I was wrong, though. "Look; I don't normally go up to strangers and strike conversation. To tell you the truth, I don't trust people I've never met. But you, for some reason, I do trust. I can't explain it, but I would like to be your friend, if you'll let me."

"I won't. Now go away."

"Fine. If you want to do it the hard way, that's fine with me." She was quiet for a while. "What's your next class?" I ignored her. "Alright then, I'll follow you until you reach your class, then I'll know."

I scowled. "You're annoying."

"Good."

There was another silence. "History."

"Room 103?"

"Yes. How did you know?"

"Jake's in that class, too."

"That boy you were sitting with? Is he your boyfriend?"

Cassie's cheeks burned red and she turned away from me. "No, we're just friends."

I decided not to point out that her body language proved otherwise. Instead, we just walked down the hall. It wasn't until her cheeks went back to normal that she asked, "So where do you live?"

"I don't feel like talking. I've already exhausted myself."

"Just by talking?"

"By talking to people who I want nothing to do with." Again, Cassie looked hurt, but I didn't care.

"Don't you want friends?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why should I? What do friends do except get in the way."

"In the way of what?"

"Of everything."

She sighed. "I always found that friends help each other when they're down. That they are always there when you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to talk to when you have no one to talk to."

"I don't need any of those things."

"I think you need them more than you're letting on."

I said nothing. I was glad when we finally reached my classroom. I was still several minutes early. Cassie said goodbye to me and left me standing outside the locked classroom alone. I suddenly realized what it was like to be left alone after talking with someone. I haven't felt this feeling for a while…


	4. Chapter 3

History class was unlike any class I had ever been in or heard of. I thought History meant history of chemicals, or history of science or something. No. It meant history of the country and where the people came from, who the people were and what time was like back then. I was totally unprepared.

My notepad was exceedingly too small. My pencil lead had already broken twice. My notes were too scattered for even me to read. I could retain most of the information the teacher gave, but I would rather have had notes to look over later.

I was sitting next to Cassie's boyfriend, Jake. He didn't say anything as he sat down next to me, and he didn't say anything to me the whole time class was in session. I was thankful for this. He did look at me a few times, but I expected that. I think he knew I wanted to be left alone.

The teacher was talking and I was listening intensively. In science and math class, I was bored and ignored the teacher mostly, but now, if I missed something, I would be lost forever. "… but the rebels wouldn't give them much of a chance. They did some pretty serious damage to their lines."

From what I gathered, the rebels were the good guys and the Loyalists were the enemy. That was very confusing to me, because it's usually the other way around. I raised my hand, not for the first time in the class. Someone in the back shouted, "You already asked who George Washington was; what else could you possibly not know?"

"She a lot stupider in this class than she was in math."

"Or science."

I ignored them, as did the teacher. "What is it, Sarah?" He was, however, exasperated by my many questions about what should have been considered common knowledge.

"I was just wondering why they began this fight in the first place."

"Who?"

"The rebels. Why did the revolt against the Loyalists?"

"For their freedom."

"Freedom from what? All they had to do was accept the fact that they were British and their lives would have been perfect. Why did they revolt?"

"They wanted to be Americans, not Britains."

"It's a rather silly thing to start a war over: to be called one thing instead of the other."

"It's considerably more complicated than that, Sarah." I assumed that was the end of the discussion. The whole class had to take five minutes to calm down after laughing at me from that, among everything else I had asked, as well.

"Why are you so dumb?" Billy asked. He was in my History class as well as my science class.

The teacher tried to silence him, but I answered anyway. "My Guardian taught me the math and sciences. He always considered history and geography to be a waste of time."

"You're what?"

"Guardian. It means someone who takes care of you who isn't your family."

"I know what a Guardian is, stupid!"

"So you were home schooled?" Jake asked from beside me. It was the very first time he had spoken to me since I saw him in the hallway. I nodded. "Why aren't you anymore?"

"I don't live with my Guardian anymore."

"Did he ditch you?" Billy asked. I figured he was being rude, but when I confirmed it, he just laughed harder.

"That's enough!" the teacher roared. "We will continue with the lesson!" I made a mental note to study more of this history with my free time.

After class, Jake offered to walk me to the gym, where my next class was. I declined and he respectively went on his way. I wished Cassie would do that, as well, but no sooner had I left the class, she came up to me and said hello. "So were you good in this class, too?"

Her question was answered by Billy, who came up to me and called me a moron. "You're so stupid in history! I only wish I could have seen you in geography. I bet I'd have been smarter than you there, too!"

"Shut up, Billy," Cassie said.

"Oh, are you going to lecture me, little miss freak?"

"Don't call me that."

"Or what? What will you do if I call you a freak?" Cassie did nothing. "Freak! Freak! Freak!"

On pure instinct alone, possibly because Billy was being annoying, or maybe it was because I didn't like him calling Cassie a freak, but I drew back my fist and let it fly into his face.

_CRACK_!

I always underestimated my own strength. I thought I had just punched him, but I was wrong. I cracked his nose. I don't know if it was broken, but I definitely heard a crack. There was so much blood coming out of his nose that his own hands couldn't stop it. He ran away from us, and I do believe I heard him crying.

I just continued walking to class, as if I hadn't just punched a kid in the face. Cassie looked at me, afraid of me, or maybe afraid _for_ me. I was unafraid. "Why did you do that?" she asked. The kids who had witnessed what I did were now backing away from me and running.

"He was being annoying."

"Oh. I thought you did it because he was calling me a freak."

"That was part of it." When she looked at me and smiled, I quickly added, "a small part."

We turned a corner and I almost bumped into a man who was almost as frightening as me. Kids were backing away from him much in the same way they did with me. This man was glowering at me almost exactly how I did with him. He was huffing and I half expected steam to come out of his nose. Billy was cowering behind him, holding paper towels to his bloody nose.

"My office. NOW!" he roared at me, pointing to the direction of his office. I said nothing, but followed him there. I saw some kids, some of the weaker looking kids, cheer me on silently. I only assumed they had bad experiences with Billy before.

When I stepped in the office, it looked dark and dismal. The man pointed to a chair across from his desk and I sat in it. It was a long time before he started speaking. He sat in his own chair before he opened his mouth. "I am Assistant Principal Chapman," he greeted. "I'm the person kids come to when they have problems, concerns, or when other kids physically attack them and cause them to bleed."

I think he was expecting me to fidget uncomfortably. But I didn't. I sat there as I always sit: unconcerned, uncaring and unafraid. He continued, "You do realize you almost broke his nose?"

"I guess I didn't punch hard enough then. Lucky Billy."

Chapman glared. "Why did you punch him at all?"

"Instinct. I attack people who annoy me too much. Plus he was being loud and he was calling the girl I was with a freak."

"So you were standing up for a friend?"

"She is not my friend! And Billy was annoying me. I don't care what happens to Cassie."

He sighed. "Look; I know growing up in The Hole isn't easy -"

"I never grew up there."

"- but that's no excuse to attack other students. I will have to call Madam Morgan and tell her this. And you will receive detention. Also, if you ever do this again, you'll be suspended or possibly expelled."

I blinked at him. "I almost broke a kid's nose and this is all the punishment you're giving me? Why are you being so lenient on me?"

Chapman leaned in, with his hands folded. "I believe in second chances. Your life must not have been easy, to have so much pent up rage and such an uncaring attitude. It looks like you need a friend. Or maybe just an escape every now and then."

"I need neither, thank you."

"You should join The Sharing. It's a sort of club where kids can go to unwind, have fun, make friends and just relax."

"I am not joining anything where cry-baby children go to whine about their lives to people who don't really care."

"It's not like that at all!"

"If that's all, sir, I would like to get back to class." I didn't move. I continued to sit. It wasn't until Chapman excused me that I got up to leave.

"Just think about it, okay? You can always come to me if there's something bothering you."

I nodded, as that was the polite thing to do, and I left. Cassie was waiting for me. "Don't you have a class now?" I asked when I had closed the door behind me.

"I thought I'd wait for you. Friends do that."

"You're not my friend."

"But you are mine, and I will treat you as such." We walked to the gym in silence for a while. "So Chapman asked you to join The Sharing?"

"Are you part of it?"

"No! And I'm actually surprised you didn't join, either."

"Why is that surprising?"

"Because most kids who don't have parents join The Sharing."

"News travels fast in this school, doesn't it?"

"Not really, but Jake told me."

"Oh, right. News travels fast between couples."

She blushed again. "We're just -"

"Whatever."

When we reached the gym, Cassie said goodbye and left. I walked in to an already in session class. I saw Cassie's blonde friend there, and she sneered at me. I think she still wanted to hurt me for the comment I made at her.

"Are you the new student?" asked the instructor.

"The new kid who broke Billy's nose!" piped one girl.

"Did you see all the blood?"

"Man, it was like a victory for all of us!"

"Stop talking about it," the blonde said. "Anyone could have done it."

"But _she_ did it, that's the thing!"

"Alright, alright. Back to class." The instructor ticked something off on her clipboard and added, "We're doing karate, by the way." She looked at me and grinned a bit. "How about, for being late, you pair up with Rachel?"

Cassie's blonde friend grinned as well. "Yeah. Come on and see if you can hit me, too."

The instructor backed off, and all the girls scattered. They all went to the benches and sat down, eagerly awaiting the demonstration. I could hear some patched muttering among them that Rachel was the toughest girl in the school. Good. More fun for me.

"You can begin anytime," said the instructor. I crouched slightly and moved my hands in front of me. I spread my legs out a bit, to get better footing, and adopted the fiercest look I could muster. The spectators all commented on how dangerous I looked, but Rachel made no such comments. I didn't move my feet at all.

Rachel was circling around, glaring at me like a hawk. I think she was waiting for me to make the first move. I didn't. Finally, she charged me. Her movements were sloppy and predictable. I blocked her punch, dodged her kick and grabbed her arm when she made a second punch. I flipped her easily over my shoulder and on her back. I barely moved at all to do this.

The class cheered, but I couldn't hear it over Rachel's rage. She shot back up and without hesitation, she attacked again. I blocked, dodged and moved so easily away from her. When she made another punch at me, I moved behind her, tripped her and she fell on her stomach.

Again, she raged and shot up. She glared at me. "You're movements are too easy to read," I said. "I know exactly what your next move is going to be."

"Then guess this!" She moved to attack, but feigned to the left, charged my right and completely missed her next punch, as I tripped her yet again.

"This is far too easy," I muttered.

Rachel came back up again. "_You're_ the white trash, you pathetic -"

"Rachel, that's enough!" said the instructor. She got up and moved between us. "That was a good demonstration. Now everyone do five laps! Hustle!"

Rachel and I glared at each other as we obeyed our orders. The instructor may have stopped our karate, but our competition was far from over. Even in our laps, Rachel tried to prove she was faster than me, but she failed. I easily took over in speed, as well as agility, because she kept trying to elbow me as I passed.

When I finished my laps, I wasn't out of breath. I barely even broke a sweat. And it was several minutes before even Rachel was finished. The instructor was impressed with me. I didn't care.

The class was mostly karate demonstrations and lectures about karate. The instructor was sure not to allow Rachel and me pair up anymore. I thought that was wise. If she had, either I would have broken Rachel's nose and got expelled, or Rachel would have attacked me and possibly injured me.

After class, and after showering, I headed to the classroom that was designated as the detention room. There were already a few people there. Cassie was there, as well, which both annoyed and confused me. Cassie waved me over to where she was sitting.

The detention Master told me not to talk. I was to just sit and be quiet. I liked that. Detention wasn't so bad after all. It was an hour long, but I just sat and did what I normally do: thought about the day.

It was a rather dull day. Most of it was stuff I already knew. And the big thing that I learned was that I'm better off not interacting with people at all.

Someone in the detention room made a noise, so he was told to come back the next day. Other than that, it all went by quickly and uneventfully. Cassie followed me out of the classroom and only then did she speak. "Wow, detention, huh? I bet you never thought I'd get that!" She waited for me to reply, and when I didn't, she offered the information. "I got detention for being late."

"That's your fault."

"I wasn't blaming anyone else." A silence. "Can I walk you home?"

"No." It was said rather rudely.

"Why not?"

"Do you know where I live?"

"No."

"The Hole."

I think she tried to stifle a snort or a laugh or something. "You live there? No, seriously, where do you live?" I said nothing. I gave her my answer. "It's just weird, is all! No one from The Hole goes to school."

"Obviously one does."

We left the school, to a bright, sunny outdoors. I silently cursed the sky. "Nice day, isn't it?" Cassie asked. I scoffed.

"Go home, Cassie. Don't follow me."

"I can walk part way with you. My bus is in this direction anyway."

I guessed she was lying. She wasn't very good at lying. Her eyes jerked ever so slightly when she lied. I didn't reply. Whatever. As long as she didn't speak to me-

"Jake told me you don't live with your Guardian anymore. Why not?"

"Because he kept asking stupid, annoying questions, and relaying the answers to his stupid little friends!"

"Oh." She finally stopped talking. Good. Now the silence was filled with the sounds of children playing, birds chirping and other sounds that most people would consider pleasant. Not me. I hated it. I think Cassie's talking was better.

"He murdered my parents," I said. It came out a lot more cardboard than I thought.

"What? Are you serious?" She wasn't faking her shock. I'm not sure that's the answer she expected.

"When I was two years old."

"But how could he have been your Guardian if he murdered your parents?"

"I didn't know he did that until I was ten."

"Did he murder them just to be your Guardian?"

"No. He did that because he's a murderer."

"Oh, my God." She was quiet. Too quiet, actually. Maybe she was massing her next question. "Didn't you have anyone else to go to?"

"Not until I was ten, when I was adopted."

"Well, why don't you live there now?"

"That is far too complicated." I hoped she got the hint that I didn't want to talk about it anymore. She was silent again.

"Oh, there's my bus." She waved goodbye and jogged to the waiting bus by the stop. Maybe she wasn't lying after all. I watched until she boarded and the bus left. Then I started walking home.

The stupid happy sounds of the day were getting louder. I almost wished Cassie had walked me home. Almost…


	5. Chapter 4

_Please, don't leave me! Don't leave me here alone! I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Come back to me! I don't want to be alone anymore._

_Sarah, your smile always brightens your face. You're much prettier that way._

I sat straight up on my bed. I scorned the night and my dreams. My scowl, which no one could see, deepened. The sun had barely climbed the sky, but I could still see the glow. I figured I'd get an early breakfast and go for a walk.

The old lady was awake, as well. She was doing some cleaning around the manor while the other children slept, or were otherwise out, getting drugs, no doubt. I often wondered why the old lady cared and also how she was so able to keep them from getting into trouble with the law. Perhaps she was more powerful than most of us gave her credit for.

I offered my services to her, if she wanted them. She smiled sweetly at me, but declined. She said she could do it on her own, but she would like some water. I fetched her some then made my breakfast. I did, however, help her hold the couch as she vacuumed under it before I left for my walk. She wished me a good day at school and gave me some money for lunch. I thanked her again and went on my way.

By the time I left the manor, the sun was out. It was far too bright for my tastes. I ran into some other teens by the playground on my way, who tried to force drugs on me. They didn't offer, they forced. I bluntly reminded them about what happened to the last kid who did that, who is still recovering in the hospital, and the teens allowed me to go on my way.

Near the bus stop where Cassie had boarded the previous day, I saw her standing there again. She smiled when she saw me and came to my side, walking with me. For the first time, I didn't object. I guess I was secretly hoping she'd be there. Talking to her was better than listening to the day.

"How are you this morning?" she asked. She looked tired.

"How long did you wait there for me?"

"Oh, not too long." She was lying. I know she was. Her eyes looked dead. I assumed she was there for at least an hour.

When I gave no response, she added, "Another nice day, huh?"

I scoffed. "It's too bright."

"But at least it's not raining."

"Rain is comforting."

"Rain is depressing."

I sighed. She didn't understand, and I had no intention of trying to explain. "We grew up differently."

"Yeah. But here we are together anyway, so I guess Fate has a purpose with us."

"You can't seriously be telling me you believe in Fate." She shrugged. "We make our own decisions and our own path. We make our own Fate."

"And your decisions have led you to me, and vice versa, therefore our lives have something to do with each other."

"Believe what you want." It was too early to argue with her. Cassie was too much of an optimist. I guess I was too pessimistic, but my life had not been easy. Hers was probably care-free and normal.

When we passed some younger kids playing on some equipment outside their own school, Cassie looked at it longingly. When she saw my confused look, she chuckled a bit and said, "I wish we didn't have to go to school."

"We don't. We're going because we choose to."

"If we don't, we'll get in trouble."

"But you're speaking as if it was impossible not to. Again, you're assuming some higher power is making you do things. If you don't want to go to school, then don't."

She laughed. "There is a higher power controlling me. It's called Parents."

I rolled my eyes. After she stopped laughing, I admitted, "I am rather bored with school. With the exception of History, I have already learned everything being taught there. It's all stuff I knew for years. And what use is History? I have no intention of growing up to be a teacher of History."

"Most of the stuff you learn at school is useless, but you have to get that out of the way before you can proceed." I huffed. After a few moments, Cassie asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up? Ever gave it much thought?"

"I'm not sure I'll be around that long," I whispered. I could have sworn I said that in my head, but when Cassie looked at me confusingly, I realized I had said it out loud. "Never mind," I added.

"I want to be a vet, like my parents. I love animals."

That was the last bit of conversation until we reached the school ten minutes later. As soon as we entered, things were less chaotic than they were the last time I came into the school. I still had my scowl on, but I guess with sweet, innocent Cassie by my side, I looked a lot less frightening. She said she'd meet me in class and went to where Rachel was standing. The blonde and I exchanged a sneer before I headed off to science.

I was shocked to see Billy there already. I thought he'd need to take a day or so off to recuperate. However, when he saw me come into the classroom, he shrieked slightly and backed away a few chairs. He had a bandage over his nose and he was protecting it with his hand. If my lips hadn't been frozen in a scowl, I would have snickered.

The bell rang five minutes later. Billy, who was usually the loudest kid of all, was actually very quiet. In fact, for a good portion of the lesson, he barely said a word. Jokingly, the teacher took me aside during an experiment to tell me, "Thank you for sedating him." Cassie, beside me, chuckled at that.

Math class was not much fun, either. Marco, who I hadn't 'sedated', was still very loud, sarcastic and annoying. He kept poking fun at me for one thing or another, mostly to take away from the fact that I was more intelligent than him. The math teacher gave another pop quiz, which I mastered, and then, after class, gave me a book of 'Super Hard Logic Puzzles'.

"See if you can solve those. I'll give you extra credit if you get them all done by Monday."

I thanked him and left the class. Cassie met up with me shortly thereafter. Marco also joined us. "Hey, Cassie, why do you hang out with her?" he asked Cassie, completely ignoring my presence. The fact that he could do that while everyone else weaned around me, very much aware of me, was almost impressive.

"She's my friend. Sarah, do you want to sit with me at lunch?"

"No," Marco and I said at the same time.

"See? Even she agrees," Marco scoffed. "And what do you mean by friend?"

"I mean someone you like and enjoy hanging around. Come on, Sarah."

"I said no. Is this 'Ignore Sarah' day today?"

"Yes," said Marco. He decided then to leave. Cassie stayed by my side until I started to leave for the café, too.

"Why are you always following me?" I asked, before we reached the doors.

"If you really wanted me to go away, you'd try harder." Silently, so as not to allow Cassie to know, I agreed with her. I guess I really wasn't trying. Did I want a friend, or just someone to talk to? Perhaps both, really. But I would not admit that out loud.

"There's a free table over there," Cassie pointed. Marco and Jake sat at a table far from where she was pointing. I did not see Rachel.

At least, not until she came up behind us. "Cassie, come sit with me. Ditch the brat here."

All I did was growl a bit. "No, Rachel, I'm sitting with Sarah today." Rachel was shocked at that. Then again, so was I.

"You've known her for less than two days and me how long?"

"I sit with you every day. I'm sitting with Sarah today."

"Fine, I can take a hint." And with that, Rachel grabbed some lunch and sat with Jake and Marco.

Cassie and I made our way to the café lady and got our respective lunches. It wasn't until I sat down at the table that I finally asked, "Why did you choose me over her?"

"I didn't. I just decided to make time to share with all my friends."

"You are not my friend."

"But you need one, so here I am." She took a bite out of her sandwich and made a disgusted face. "What do they put in here? Mystery meat?"

"I don't need a friend."

She put down her lunch and looked at me seriously. "Come on, Sarah. You can lie to yourself, but not me. Every time I see you, you look as if a storm cloud is hanging over your head and you have no one to help you get rid of it. You think rain is comforting which only means you've had some kind of disaster that you think water can wash away. Whatever you're facing, you don't need to do it alone."

"That is a fascinating theory, but oh so wrong," I said finally. Anything to shut her up. She was perfectly right, of course, but I didn't want to hear it.

"I can help you, if you want. Provide a shoulder to cry on?"

"I don't need to cry. Besides, everything I tell you goes back to them." I nodded towards her friends' table. She glanced at them, but looked back at me.

"I promise I won't tell them anything you tell me from here on."

"As Rachel said, I've known you for two days. I am far from trusting your word." I ate my soup in silence. For a while, Cassie tried to start some minor conversation, but I ignored her.

Near the end of lunch, Cassie spoke again, "I asked my parents if I could invite a friend to sleep over tonight, since it's Saturday tomorrow. I was wondering if you'd like to."

"Ask Rachel." I got up and left the table. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rachel instantly get up and go over to Cassie. Whatever. I've known her for two days. She was not my friend.

At least, I kept telling myself that…


	6. Chapter 5

"Today's class is movie time," my History teacher said. He was standing at the front, near an old, but workable, television. The class was happy to see a movie and not be doing work. Even Billy was saying things along that line as well, although he never looked at me directly, and didn't make snide remarks about how I knew nothing about History.

The teacher had also been kind enough to give me a bigger notepad and a pen, so my notes wouldn't smudge. I was all ready to take notes, as well. However, the movie he played was not note worthy.

It was a war film. A lot of guns, killing, blood, bodies… I didn't feel I needed to note any of it. All battles are the same: some people live, some people die, most get injured and there are no winners. There's a lot of blood and guts, much massacre.

I noticed a lot of my classmates weren't taking notes, either. A few of them were looking sick. Billy was goofing off silently in the back. Only two people were taking the movie seriously, and they were Jake and I.

I looked at Jake. His eyes were glazed over, but he was watching intently. His lips barely moved. He neither looked sick, nor happy. He was completely robotic. He looked sort of how I did when I watched this film.

At the end, the teacher had to excuse a few of the students to the bathroom. He wanted a discussion about the film, but I didn't feel much like talking. I guess the teacher was disappointed.

Jake looked like a rock. Then again, I probably did too. Only when the bell rang did Jake finally move. He gathered his things and left; without a word or glance in anyone's direction.

I did the same.

Outside the class, there was Cassie. "Hi, Jake," she said.

"Oh, hey, Cassie," Jake replied. He shook his head vigorously and it was as if shaking off a veil. He returned to his usual perky, leader-like personality. "How was class?"

"Test," she said simply. The two laughed a bit. I could clearly see that they were a couple. Or at the very least wanting to be. They stood close together, and always looked right into each other's eyes. I could almost feel their auras pulsating.

"Hey, Sarah," Cassie said to me. I just nodded.

"Oh, Sarah, could I ask you a question?" asked Jake.

Confused, as he doesn't usually speak directly to me, I said, "Okay."

"When we were watching the movie, you looked sort of, um…"

"Emotionless?" I offered. "Unaffected? Somewhat detached as if I was there but not there?"

"Exactly!"

I looked him right in the eye and said, "You looked like that, too."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah, I suppose I did."

There was an uncomfortable silence, which Cassie broke by asking, "So, Sarah, you wanna sleep over tonight or what?"

Jake's head snapped up and he looked at her kind of the same way I did. Did he not approve either?

"I thought I said no," I pointed out.

"No, you just told me to ask Rachel."

"In that case, no: I don't want to sleep over."

"Please? My mom's making meatloaf. It's really good!"

"Cassie," Jake said, sternly, "she said no."

"Listen to your boyfriend." As soon as I said that, the two of them blushed, denied the comment and turned away from each other. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Well, think about it," was Cassie's last comment before she hurried off. Jake muttered a goodbye and went in the opposite direction. I headed to the gym. The two of them were more humorous to watch than just about anything else, I decided…

"I don't know what she sees in you," Rachel said, as she tried to punch me. I dodged easily.

"I don't either, and I hate it," I replied, half lying. The truth was I really didn't mind Cassie wanting to be my friend so bad. It was better than sitting in the silence with nothing to do except think about my past.

I ducked, allowing Rachel's other fist to sail over my head, and then I tripped her for the fourth time this class. When she fell, she caught herself with her hand, jumped back up and finally managed to hit me. It didn't hurt, but she felt it was a victory nonetheless. Fine. Allow her one little victory. I'll never make that mistake again.

"You expected me to fall, didn't you?" she asked, almost bouncing in joy.

"I did, yes. How did you balance so well on your hand? You never did that before."

"I'm in gymnastics."

"Then why aren't you very agile?" I moved to her left, threw out my own fist, raised my opposite arm to defend her on-coming attack and successfully kicked her shin. She fell to the ground in pain, taking away her smugness from hitting me earlier.

After a few moments, when she got back to her feet, she replied, trying to hide the edge of pain in her voice, "I'm too tall."

"You're not agile because you're tall? That's a feeble excuse." She was only a head taller than me; hardly anything that could stop her from being a better fighter than me. "Use your height to your advantage. You also have long legs: easy for quick dodging. You have the potential to kick my ass, you just won't do it."

"I can kick your ass and I will." She growled at me.

"Then do it!" She attacked, but it wasn't very coordinated. I knew she was going to feign left before she even did it. Her weight was unbalanced on her feet and I managed to trip her before she even realized she had been tripped. She fell forwards, rolled, and jumped back to her feet, the swirled around to face me. I hadn't even broken a sweat.

"Where did you learn to fight like this?" Rachel asked.

"My Guardian taught me. I used to fight much tougher opponents than you; ones who actually knew how to fight."

"And I've fought tougher opponents than you, too." Somehow, I managed to stop myself from scoffing that. Her eyes told me she wasn't just boasting. Then why was she such a klutz fighting me?

I didn't get the chance to ask because the bell rang. Finally: I could go home. I went to shower first, where all the other girls were all in awe of me being able to beat Rachel. Please: it's not like any of them couldn't. She was too sloppy in her movements. A child could take her on and win.

After leaving the gym, Cassie came up to me. I didn't object, but Rachel did. "Hey, Cassie. You wanna hang out at the mall?"

"No, Sarah's sleeping over today," Cassie said.

"Did you not hear me at all? I don't want to sleep over!" I snarled. It was as if everything I said to her went through one ear and out the other.

"I don't know why you want to be friends with this scum," Rachel muttered, although I could still hear her. I think that was the point. "She's untrustworthy and stupid."

"I don't think so." Cassie stared down her friend, which seemed hard to do, considering Cassie was shorter than me.

They looked at each other for a long time before Rachel sighed. "Fine. If you wanna trust her, that's fine. But I still don't." She gave me a shove. "If you ever hurt Cassie, you'll wish you were never born."

I decided not to reply. I had no intention of hurting anyone; unless they gave me a reason. Cassie and I started walking out of the school. It wasn't until the damned sun hit my face that I realized I was following Cassie to her home. Why had I suddenly decided to go with her? Maybe I just didn't want to be alone anymore.

"The first thing we can do is go to my barn," Cassie was saying. "My parents run the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic out of our barn; I think I told you once already."

"Twice."

"Oh, okay. Well, we can work with the animals for a while. I told my parents that I'd sweep out the barn as payment to having a friend over."

"Whatever."

"Oh! We got a new patient today. He's a deer that my folks found close to the highway. I guess someone was out hunting and, well…" She trailed off. She spoke of animals as if they were people and were close to her. Whatever. It sounded noble, but I didn't think of them the same way.

"He is a big fella, though," Cassie continued. "I could use your help holding him down while I apply ointment. It is a rather nasty wound."

"Sure."

"Oh, here's the bus." I don't even remember reaching the stop, much less noticing the bus' arrival. But we boarded just the same and rode it for quite a while before Cassie declared we reached our stop.

When I got off the bus, the sun was brighter. Perhaps it was because we were in the country, or maybe it was because the weather reflected Cassie's personality, and since we were nearing her home, the sun shone for us.

Perhaps I have too much of an imagination.

"There's my place!" Cassie said, pointing to a country home with a barn a little ways from it. It was also quite close to the forest, as well. No wonder it was a place for treatment of animals. Once treated, they can be simply released back into the forest. I suppose that was the point.

Cassie led me across the field to her home. This must be a difficult place to trek through during winter times, but it looked as if Cassie was able to manoeuvre over the grass and such quite easily. She no doubt was better able to get through snow than most others, as well.

Of course, so was I. I kept up with Cassie quite well, and at times pulled ahead of her. Not too much, of course, as this was her home, and I had no right to invade it without her going first.

"Come on to the barn. We'll see to the deer, sweep out the floor, then go inside and play video games." She led me to her large barn, and upon entering it, I was attacked with a wave of animal smells. Most of it was manure, but the rest was burned fur, animal feed, among other things. Cassie didn't seem affected by it at all. To me, it was a mass of sensation all at once.

I think my face showed what I just explained, because Cassie said, "Sorry; probably should have warned you first."

She led me to a stall near the back of the barn, away from the vicious meat eaters that could smell its burning flesh. I could smell it too, and when I saw the wound, I understood why Cassie didn't want to talk about it.

She instructed me to calmly enter the stall, and assured me that the deer was too tired to attack me. I held onto the deer the way Cassie explained and held down. Cassie dipped a cloth in some ointment and approached the wound. When she neared, the deer started shifting, to get away from Cassie. I held on more firmly, as Cassie whispered reassuring words and soothing noises. It wasn't until she touched the wound with the cloth that I realized why she needed someone to hold him down.

The animal heaved and backed me into the barn wall. I grabbed on again just before the deer could hoof Cassie in the mouth. She backed up just in time. It was like that until Cassie applied all the ointment on the wound, but I still had to hold on until Cassie was completely out of the stall. Only then did the deer relax, so I left as well.

"That's nothing," Cassie said, when we got far enough away, "you should have seen him when my parents were getting the bullet out. My dad had to sedate him twice." She grabbed a broom and shooed me to the side so she could sweep.

While she was doing that, I took notice of all the animals in the barn. They were all different species, sizes, shapes and colours. I've never seen so many animals in one spot before. Most of them growled at me, but a few of them just stared at me, wondering what I was.

The barn was huge, so it took Cassie over half an hour to do a thorough job. She put the broom back and led me out of the barn, which she closed behind her, one big door at a time. "Let's go inside now. Maybe Mom will let us have some brownies." She led me to her house and opened the door for me. "I'm home!" she yelled.

"Come inside before it gets dark already!" a female voice replied. I assumed that was her mother.

Cassie walked right in, took off her boots and hung her coat. Before I did any of that, I wiped my feet on the Welcome mat four times, then took off my own shoes and set them by the door.

"Why did you do that?" Cassie asked.

"Take off my shoes? It would be rather rude to enter your house with muddy shoes on."

"No, no; I meant why'd you wipe your feet like that? You're taking your shoes off anyway."

I looked at the Welcome mat and then back at Cassie. "Force of habit."

"Oh, okay."

She took me into the living room and I saw her parents. Her mother was sipping something I assumed was either coffee or tea, and her father was reading in the recliner. When they saw me, the got up and came over.

"Introductions, Cassie," said her father.

"Mom, Dad, this is Sarah. She's new at school," Cassie greeted. "Sarah, these are my parents."

I nodded at each of them in succession. "Sir. Ma'am."

"Oh, don't call me that!" said her mother. "It makes me feel old!"

"Sorry; force of habit. I was taught to always respect my Betters."

"And who taught you that?" asked her father.

"My older brother."

"Smart boy." Her father winked at Cassie and went back to his recliner.

Her mother said, "I'll get your kids some brownies," and disappeared into the kitchen.

Cassie turned to face me, blocking her father, so he wouldn't hear anything, and whispered, "You never told me you had a brother."

"You never asked. Plus, it wasn't any of your business."

"You're right. Sorry." Her mother came back and gave us a brownie, then shooed us to Cassie's room. Cassie took me up the stairs and into her room, which was filled with animal posters, toys and vet books.

"Sorry for the mess," she apologized, taking a huge bite out of her brownie. I did the same with mine. She sat down on her bed and asked, "So how many brothers do you have? Just the one?"

"Two. And no, I don't have sisters."

"Why don't you live with them then?"

"They're dead," I said simply. I told her than in a tone no different than if I had told her the sky was blue. It was a fact. What could I do about it?

"Oh." She finished her brownie in silence. It was a rather delicious brownie. The old lady once made me a brownie. This one was far superior. I told Cassie this and she smiled proudly. "I helped my mom make them."

"I see."

"What were your brothers' names?"

I looked at her sharply. "What does it matter?"

"I'm just curious."

"So you can tell Jake?"

"No! I told you I'm not telling them anything you tell me from now on."

"You don't need to know their names."

"Fine. Tell me about them, then."

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because I don't know anything about you and I'd like to know more!"

"Then tell me about yourself first," I demanded. "It'll be one for one."

"Alright, fair enough."

I shouldn't have started this. Now, because I am bound to my word, I have to tell Cassie things about myself that I would rather keep private. And the only thing I'm getting in exchange is things about her miserable life. It wasn't worth it to me.

"I have no siblings and I pretty much grew up in this house. Your turn."

"Hardly much of an exchange," I retorted. "I could have guessed all those things." She just sat there, staring at me. I sighed. "My parents died when I was two, I was adopted at ten, and my brothers died shortly after I turned thirteen."

"But you're thirteen now. Does that mean they died recently?" I just stared at her. It was her turn to release information first. "Um, I had several pets at one point, but my parents thought that since we had the barn, there was no point keeping pets."

"I never had pets."

"I once got a bruise from falling off the rafters in my barn because I thought I could fly."

"I once ate something poisonous and was sick for a week."

"I chased a squirrel into the forest and ran through a patch of poison ivy."

"My Guardian taught me how to swim by throwing me in a body of water and waiting to see if I'd swim or drown."

"I learned how to swim almost the same way, but on my own."

"I no longer see the point in this."

"What do you mean? I already know a lot more about you."

"Useless, pathetic information."

"Then tell me more about you."

I gazed into her eyes, and to my surprise, she wasn't taken aback by the dismal colour of my look. "I will tell you the story behind my brothers, if you admit to me that Jake is your boyfriend." She blushed, but I continued, "I am rather sick of watching you two show obvious signs of affection with neither of you admitting anything."

"You sound like Rachel and Marco."

"I hate to say it, but they're right."

She sighed. "I can't say that because, at this point in time, it would be a lie, and I have no intention of lying to you."

We stared at each other for a while, until Cassie's mother called us down for dinner. I was trying to see if Cassie was lying me then. I couldn't see anything that indicated betrayal in her eyes, but I have seen that before. I didn't want to trust Cassie. Really, I didn't.

But somehow, I think I did…


	7. Chapter 6

I never ate much more than soup or light, meaty meals, but this meatloaf that Cassie's mom made was rather tasty. I told her this and she blushed slightly. "You're the only person other than Cassie who likes it," she said.

"I like it!" said her father.

"Sure you do. Just like my vegetable stew, right?"

"Uh, sure!" He gave me a look of disgust when his wife turned away from him. I think he expected me to laugh or something, but I didn't. I kept my usual frown and deadly stare.

"Let me ask you something," Cassie's dad asked me seriously.

"Yes, sir."

He ignored the 'sir' and asked, "Why do you live in The Hole? Why don't you live with your family? You must have a family if you have a brother."

"My brothers are dead. My parents are too far away for me to live with."

"Oh." There was a silence. Cassie's parents are just as emotional as she is. "Cassie says your parents are dead too."

I sighed. "I meant my adopted parents are too far away."

"Why didn't you say that in the beginning?"

"Because as far as I'm concerned, they're blood related to me."

"Oh. Well, you know, if you have their phone number, you could always call from here."

I muttered, "The long distance charges would be out of this world." I stabbed my meatloaf with my fork and took some to eat. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cassie look at me strangely.

But her mother coughed and turned the topic to something better. "There's a new addition to The Gardens. His name is Fluffy. Guess what he is. Come on, Cassie."

"Oh, well, um…" She thought about it. How ironic: Cassie loves animals more than people and yet she doesn't seem to object to a zoo. She was more unpredictable than I thought. "It would be something with fur."

"Actually, this time, it isn't. A child named him, and the first thing she thought of was Fluffy."

"No fur? Is it an animal or a mammal?"

"Mammal."

This went on for a long, boring while before Cassie guessed an orca. I had long finished my supper by that time. Then her parents began to tell me about all the other animals at The Gardens. Not that I cared, but out of respect for my Betters, I listened and nodded to everything they said.

Finally, Cassie declared she was tired. It was well past eleven o'clock by this time. I was grateful to be going to sleep.

Cassie led me back to her room, where she helped me set up a blow-up mattress on the floor. She asked if I needed blankets, but I declined. I normally get over-heated at night and toss my blankets off, anyway. Cassie said she understood, and often did the same thing.

I laid down on the mattress, arms folded behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. It was a long time before Cassie said anything, from her bed closer to the window. "What do you dream about?"

My first thought was to ignore her, but I found my lips moving before I could stop them. "My brothers. My family. My life before my Guardian ruined it."

"Were you happy? Did you smile at all?"

"All the time." I turned my head away from her. I can't believe I admitted that to someone I've known for a whole of two days. To admit such weakness to someone who at any moment could betray me.

"I bet you look like a whole different person when you smile."

I shrugged. I still wasn't looking at her, so I don't know if she acknowledged it or not. Again, I found myself speaking before I could stop myself. "My little brother used to say to me, 'Sarah, your smile always brightens your face. You're much prettier that way'. And no matter what I was feeling when he told me that, I'd smile. The world could be exploding all around me. I could have only three seconds to live, but if he told me that, I would smile."

I felt something wet fall down my face, and I brought my hand up to touch it. It was a tear. Was I crying? I haven't cried in months. I tried to stop myself and just barely succeeded. Tears are weakness. Tears are for the weak. _You'll never be strong if you act like a child. Get back on your feet and hold the weapon right or I'll slice you again, you pathetic-_

"Sarah, are you alright?" Cassie asked. I physically shuddered and came back to reality. I was remembering things I'd rather forget. I tried, and failed, to suppress the memories. I wiped my tears as best as I could and rolled back over to face Cassie. My look of fear still in my eye, but for some reason, when looking at Cassie, I relaxed a bit.

"I'm fine," I lied. "Remembering my little brother is hard to do, is all."

"You loved your brothers very much, didn't you?"

"More than anything. They saved my life."

"Was your Guardian going to kill you?"

"Eventually, no doubt."

She paused. Possibly she was worried her next question would be ignored. "What were they like?"

I hesitated. "Why do you ask? What difference does it make to you?"

"I never had siblings. Jake tells me what his relationship was like with his brother, but brothers are supposed to be rebellious towards each other. What would a sister feel?"

I shifted, but I did tell her. I don't know why, but something in me said that I should tell her. "I don't know what other people are like with their siblings, but I always had a wonderful relationship with my brothers. My older brother was like a father figure to me. He found me and took me away from my Guardian. At first, I resisted, but he showed me a life that was full of joy instead of fear; love, instead of hate; happiness instead of sorrow. My older brother was my mentor, my strength, my shoulder to cry on.

"He took me home and did his best to teach me things that were good, instead of evil. Of course, there were things I retained. I was raised by my Guardian; of course old habits die hard. But for the most part, my brother was successful in making me beneficial to society, instead of evil."

"Did your Guardian raise you to destroy?"

"He tried. He succeeded for a while. My brother was great, though. We would go for long walks and just talk about things. When I was with him, there was no fear, or sadness. I felt peace and safety with him. I was grateful for him and what he did for me. I realized, after a while, that perhaps Fate didn't hate me after all."

Cassie smiled at that. I did believe in Fate once. "What about your little brother?"

"He's only younger than me by a few months. Or perhaps he was slightly older than me. I can't remember. I never thought of him as my little brother, anyway. He was my best friend." More liquid seeped out of my eyes, but this time, I let it come. "My older brother was my mentor, but my little brother was my friend. We would do everything together. We walked, we talked, and we played games and sports and acted like kids normally do. I loved him with all my heart, and I would gladly have given my life to spare his. Unfortunately, Fate doesn't like me that much."

"How did they die?"

"How do you think?" My stern eyes showed my answer.

"Your Guardian." She looked as depressed as I felt.

"I will kill him one day, I promise you that. I will murder the bastard for killing my older brother. But I will torture him to an inch of his life first and make whatever shred of dignity he has evaporate for murdering my little brother. He may have made me who I am now, but my brothers gave me a conscious and a life. Using those, I will kill that son of a bitch."

The silence that followed was one such that helped me to calm down. Cassie must have known I needed to calm down. She was emotional, but at least she was compassionate. I was grateful for this.

"Maybe we should go to sleep now. My parents would flip if they found we were still awake."

"As you wish." I rolled over again, away from her, and closed my eyes. It was still a few hours before I fell asleep. Cassie was already snoring silently before I was.

I laid out my most inner feelings to her. I just hoped to whoever above that was listening that she wouldn't betray me…

The next morning, I woke up how I usually do: in a cold sweat. I'm glad I didn't have blankets. Cassie was already awake. "Good morning," she said, and stretched. "Let's grab some breakfast and work in the barn for a bit. After that, we can go to the mall if you want."

"Sure," I said simply. Cassie over-exaggerated her surprise.

"Wow, no objection or retort? I think our friendship is finally taking off."

"It's not going anywhere. I just have nothing better to do today." Cassie laughed and hopped out of her bed.

"I'm going to have a shower first. I'll meet you downstairs." She grabbed a towel and headed off to the bathroom. I obeyed her and went downstairs to the kitchen. Her mother was already there.

"Good morning! What would you like for breakfast?" she asked.

"I never gave it much thought."

Her father entered the kitchen and started opening cupboards. "Make her bacon and eggs. A growing girl needs her iron."

"She doesn't need that much grease fat this early in the morning."

"How 'bout steak?" He grinned at his wife.

"How 'bout you get out of this kitchen?" She waved him away and took some eggs out of the fridge. Cassie's father grabbed and apple and scampered out of the kitchen. Cassie's mom, humming a tune, cracked an egg over a frying pan and I heard it sizzle.

It was such a normal morning. It made me homesick. I remember when my mother used to make me breakfast. She had to learn to cook a special diet for me because none of my other family members enjoyed the same foods as I did. She never hummed a tune, though. I wonder why not?

Cassie's mom set a plate of eggs and bacon on the table for me. I thanked her and sat to eat. She also poured me some orange juice and put a dash of salt on my eggs. "Can I get you anything else?"

"No, ma'am, thank you."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Sorry, ma'am."

She smiled sweetly at me and went back into the living room. Cassie came downstairs shortly thereafter and sat to eat her own plate of food her mother pre-set for her. We ate in silence.

After breakfast, we went out to the barn. "I hope you're well-fed. We need to carry some hay bushels out to the stalls. The horses need their feed."

"Okay." We hoisted three or four bushels, and Cassie spread out the feed one stack at a time. There were two horses that came over for food, and they easily dwarfed Cassie, but she was so unafraid with these huge beasts. In fact, I would bet that she could walk into a pack of hungry wolves without fear. I respected and admired her for this.

After the feed, she came back over the fence and sat on the ground next to me. "It's so nice having help. It would have been difficult carrying those bushels by myself."

"No problem."

We sat in silence for a while, as Cassie took off her heavy gloves. Her trousers were already covered in stains and we barely did anything in the barn. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You've been doing that ever since we met," I pointed out, "why stop now?"

She smiled. "I was just wondering what you were dreaming about last night?"

I looked at her. "Why do you ask?"

"You kept begging someone not to leave you alone. That you were lost and scared."

I sighed. I have that dream all the time. "The day I found out about my brothers, I begged them to come back. As if my pleading could bring them back from the dead, or something."

"How did you find out?"

"I watched my Guardian kill my older brother, but I did nothing to stop him. If I had tried, I would have died. And my brother would never have forgiven me if I got killed in a foolish attempt to save him." I sighed. "As for my little brother, well, I didn't actually see him get killed, but I know my Guardian did it. I saw -" I stopped.

"Saw what?"

"Nothing. Never mind." I almost told her too much. What was wrong with me? I don't want to tell her anything more about my life or my family. I stood up. "Are we going to the mall or what?"

"I was hoping to do that later. I want to talk to you about something."

"About me?" I groaned.

"No; about me."

I turned to look at her curiously. She stood up and avoided my gaze for the longest time. When she did look at me, I saw that she was frightened about something. About what she was going to tell me? Possibly. Whatever it was, I figured it was serious and possibly dangerous. I would not disrespect her by ignoring her.

"Let's talk over by the forest, okay?" She led me to a trail behind her barn. We walked for a half hour before she stopped and suggested I sit on the log we came by. I obeyed. She sat down beside me and neither of us looked at each other.

It was a while before she said anything. I hoped she would hurry; the sound of birds chirping was annoying me. "I'm not who I appear," she said, finally.

I said nothing. I could have told her that just by looking at her. There were times she acted like a normal kid, but I knew she had some deep, down secret. I could tell by how she avoided the gazes of many people. Like she should have with me, but didn't.

"You have to promise me not to tell Jake or Rachel or Marco any of this. They would be very cross with me." I thought for a while. So they were in on it, too? I should have known. They were always together and they seemed most comfortable when with each other, and never with others. Eventually, I found myself agreeing. And I am bound by my word.

"Um… Where do I start?" She laughed slightly.

"The beginning."

"I'm afraid the beginning is rather complicated." She took a deep breath and continued. She looked so scared. "I don't know why I trust you, but I do. I feel I can tell you this without any bad repercussions. Jake, Rachel, Marco and I are, well, defending the world against alien invaders."

She blushed and laughed. I guess she thought I would find it all a joke. Like I would call her insane, or that she has an active imagination.

But instead, against my will, I found myself saying, "We're probably fighting the same enemy, then."

She stopped laughing and finally looked me in the eye. We both saw the same thing: neither of us were joking. "You're what?" she whispered.

"Possibly for different reasons, though. I have a personal vendetta against just one. You and your friends are probably fighting for other reasons."

"But, how can you? No way." She muttered on like that for a while. When she realized she was blubbering, she stopped. She had to clear her throat a few times before she could continue. "How did you know about them?"

"How did I know?" I scoffed. My frown deepened. My scowl came back harder. This happens whenever I speak of my Guardian. "They murdered my birth parents, they raised me in Hell, and they murdered my precious brothers… I've known them all my life."

"Your… Your Guardian was a… Was a…?"

"Yeerk? Yes."

The silence that followed was the worst I've ever had with anyone. It was so bad that all I could hear was the silence. All other sounds were dead. "Are you human?" she asked me finally. It was a peculiar question, but I guess I understood why she asked it.

"Yes. Born as a human, raised as a Yeerk, but I will die an Andalite."

"Then your adopted family are -!"

"Andalites, yes."

"Oh, my God." She looked at me with the biggest eyes I ever saw. But I couldn't make out the expression. Was she scared? Worried? Confused? Or possibly all at once. "You were raised by Yeerks and you're still alive?"

I scoffed. "That's what Aximili said when I told him that."

She raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"Aximili. My brother."

"Your brother?" She looked at me with a mix of confusion and some other expression I couldn't put my finger on.

"His older brother's name was Elfangor. I bet you've heard of him; everyone else has."

She smiled sadly, lowering her head. "Yeah, I've heard of him. A few months ago, we all took a short cut through an abandoned construction site and found a dying Andalite prince who gave us the power to morph and told us of the Yeerk invasion. We've been fighting them ever since." I saw her blink in confusion before asking, "Wait; if you're saying Elfangor was your brother, and your Guardian killed your brothers, then does that mean that your Guardian is Visser Three?"

"Yes." She brought her hands to her mouth and covered it. I always assumed when people did that it was out of respect or sadness or possibly both. There was nothing to be sad about and definitely nothing to respect. I had no control over my life at that time. Fate played the cards and I had no choice but to accept them. "Perhaps I should explain more."

"That would be helpful," she replied, still looking at me sympathetically.

I sighed. "I don't remember a great deal of my life before I was two and I don't remember much of the day it happened, either. The earliest memory I have is being thrown on a cold, hard deck and being told to stop crying. From then on, I remember being trained for three years or so. I resisted so much at first, and was greeted with bruises, scars, broken bones, et cetera. After a while, I realized that if I did what I was told, I wouldn't receive punishment.

"By the time I was around five, I was made a general in Visser Three's army. And the worst part is that I truly believed what he always told me was right: we were purging the galaxy of undesirables: peoples who would ruin the balance of life."

"You were only five when you did this?" Cassie was so shocked. I can't say I blamed her. I would be shocked, too, if I were in her position. How could a five year old child commit such acts of brutality? But it was true. Every word of it.

"I was also five when he finally named me, too. Up until then I was named Human. Ever since he christened me his general, he called me Sarah." I scoffed. "Ironic, isn't it, that a Yeerk would give me a human name? But of course, 'Sarah' is only a partial part of the name. The full version of it is much longer."

"What is it?"

"For you to pronounce it, I would have to rip out your tongue." Cassie rubbed her throat involuntarily. "'Sarah' means 'General' in Yeerkish. My Guardian never did have an imagination."

"But how could you lead armies at such a young age? Your body isn't even developed at that stage of life!"

"It is if you are raised by Yeerks."

"Oh."

I continued my story. I told her how I was ten when my brother found me. I was leading the attack on Caarn, and he was leading the Andalite ground troops against us. I told Cassie that I fought Elfangor until he finally knocked me out and took me to his ship. I awoke in a cell where Elfangor was watching over me. He told me he had to keep me locked up for three days to prove I wasn't a Yeerk.

He also told me stories. He told me about his life back home, his family, his favourite places to run and so on. My eyes glazed over as I remembered his stories. I tried my best to tell them to Cassie exactly the same way, but I supposed she'd have to have been there to understand fully. He told me stories for the whole of three days, never leaving my side for an instant.

On the third day, he told me about the true side of the Yeerks. He told me how evil they were and how Visser Three was the worst of them all. I never saw them as such until my brother put it all into perspective for me. I realized how I should have seen it all, and how much of a monster I was. So I cried.

He came into my cell to allow me to cry on his chest. I told Cassie of the comfort I felt there. I remember, faintly, of him telling me that everything would be alright and that he would take care of me. I was like that for many hours.

When I finally led up on my tears, Elfangor took me to the Dome part of the ship. I told Cassie of what it was like to be there: the trees, the grass, the plains that went on for miles and miles. Other Andalites would scorn me, believing I was a Yeerk, but my brother would turn them away. Only one Andalite came up to me as an equal, and that was my little brother.

I told Cassie how comfortable I felt with him. How the universe seemed less evil when he was near. He told me stories and we'd play sports, or I'd just run along side him. He taught me many things about his people and many legends his people had. After a week, I considered him my best friend. When I told him that, I smiled for the first time in my life. It felt slightly weird at first, but then was so natural. He said to me, 'Sarah, your smile brightens your face. You're much prettier that way'.

"After he told me that," I said, "I knew we'd always be together. I told him I'd always protect him and let no harm come to him, and he made a similar promise." I scoffed, trying my hardest not to allow my tears to cloud my vision. "Some promise that turned out to be."

"It sounds like you had a wonderful relationship with your brothers," Cassie said. She was getting way too into my story. She was hanging onto my every word. I was sure she would have been bored by now, but she was so intent.

"We were no different from other siblings. We talked, played, stayed up late at night, crawling back home in the early morning, enraging our father… Of course, Elfangor was far too busy to do any of that. Or perhaps he was just trying to avoid trouble? He and Father had a wonderful relationship."

"I don't have any siblings," Cassie said. "And Jake and Tom don't act like that at all." We sat in silence for a while, allowing what was spoken to settle in. Finally, Cassie asked the big question: "What happened when you reached Earth?"

I sighed. "There's not much to tell about that. We underestimated the Yeerks and missed the Blade Ship behind Earth's moon. When the battle ensued, I ignored Elfangor's order to stay behind on the ship and followed him onto the escape pod. We were naturally shot down. Elfangor ordered me to leave the pod in a bird morph once we entered the atmosphere. He actually had to push me out before I complied.

"For about an hour, I flew around. I never saw any of you, though. But then, you could have been hiding at that time, or already gone. After all, Visser Three had landed by the time I returned to the crash site. He was standing over my brother when I arrived. I had the urge to kill him, but Elfangor would never have forgiven me if I got myself killed in a vain attempt to rescue him."

"We were there," Cassie muttered. "We watched him get eaten, too. We didn't leave until after the deed was done."

Both our heads were lowered in respect. "I watched every bit of it as well. I also watched as the Dome ship streaked across the sky, burning in the atmosphere, taking my little brother down beyond the horizon. In a matter of hours, Visser Three killed the two most important people to me. I swore I'd kill him. When the area was cleared, I demorphed and went up to where my brother was murdered. Some of his blood was still there. I wept for a long time, begging him not to leave me alone. When it started raining, it washed away his blood and seemed to wash my pain away, as well. After gathering my strength, I wandered the streets, gathering information on the Yeerk invasion of Earth, but mostly just reacquainting myself with human culture.

"After a few months, I decided I needed to get more organized, so I hung outside the mall until very late, or very early, and allowed myself to be seen by a Cop. He took me to The Hole and I asked the old lady to enrol me in school.

"And that's where I met you, Cassie," I finished. My throat was getting very sore at this point. "Everything is making less sense now, but I have my duties. I don't know what you plan on doing, but my goal is clear. And if we are on the same side, I will fight with you, but that of course depends on your other friends."

I never talked so much before in my life. Everything I am was laid out there. All Cassie had to do now was leave the forest and tell my story to everyone.

But she didn't. She never left my side. She listened to my story with much understanding. I glanced at Cassie, but she turned away. My life story must not have been easy to hear. She probably realized that my life really was worse than anything she could have imagined. When I was five, I led armies against worlds. At that time, Cassie was probably still drinking out of a sippy cup, throwing tantrums and barely able to walk properly. I was torturing races for information. I was a horrible person. No wonder no one trusted me.

Cassie didn't run from me, though. I was confused by that. I asked her, "Why are you still here? I'm a menace."

"You're my friend. No matter what happened in your past, you're my friend now and we'll find a way to make it better together."

"Thank you," I said, sincerely.

Suddenly, the chirping birds weren't so annoying anymore. "Hey, can you go wait in the barn for a little while?" Cassie asked. "I'm going to get Jake and the others."

"They won't accept me."

"They trust me, and I trust you. They will learn to accept you."

"Cassie, I'm not here to make friends. I just want to kill my Guardian and get it over with."

"Not until we have a proper introduction. Please?"

I don't remember me ever saying no to her and her letting me stick to it. Therefore, I said, "Fine."

"Good. I'll be back in less than and hour, I promise." So I went back to her barn where I sat on a hay stack and waited for her to return…


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes**: Thought-speech will be denoted by double-parentheses. (( ))

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" Marco declared, when he arrived in the barn and saw me sitting there. "I was having loads of fun beating Jake in that racing game, and now you want us to hang out with _her_?"

"Um, excuse me?" Jake said to him, "you were beating me?"

"Yeah. Oh, you think it was the other way around?"

"We're not doing anything with her, Cassie," Rachel said, arms folded.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't want to 'hang' with you guys either," I admitted. "I'm only here because Cassie asked me to be."

"And since when did you listen to her?"

"Since she became my friend."

The others silenced at that. I finally admitted it: Cassie was my friend.

"Cassie," Jake said, softly, "can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

"No," replied Cassie. The three of them looked at her strangely. I guess they weren't used to her saying no to Jake. "Whatever you have to say to me, you can say here in front of Sarah."

No one said a word. They just shifted uncomfortably. Finally, Rachel said, "Alright, I'll say it: remember the last time we trusted someone we only knew for a few days?"

"This is different!" Cassie assured. "Trust me!"

"We trust you," replied Marco. "We don't trust _her_."

"But I do!"

"Cassie, this is more serious than who trusts who," Jake pointed out. "A lot of things are going on."

"And we're fighting the same battle," I said, finally. They looked at me. I stood up and faced them. "We may not be fighting together, but we have the same enemy."

"You don't even know what you're talking about," said Marco.

"Excuse me?"

"We're fighting a war that has already claimed hundreds of thousands of lives."

"Are you counting only humans or everyone else in the galaxy the Yeerks have killed?" Marco, Rachel and Jake stared at me confusingly. "Because the death toll is much higher than that."

"Cassie told you about the Yeerks."

"I've known about them my whole life. I lived with them for eight years!"

"Oh, well, I wonder why we don't trust you then?!" Marco said, with more sarcasm than he's ever used with me. "Could that be the exact reason?"

"Shut up, Marco!" Cassie almost shouted. That shocked the group more than what I said. "I trust her. She's not evil!"

"She is to us," sneered Rachel.

"Why? Because she was a Yeerk for eight years? Have you ever thought to ask what happened after she was free?"

"No, and quite frankly, we don't care."

"I don't think our friend Elfangor would like us saying that," muttered Cassie. I felt a twang hit my face, but I subdued it.

"What does he have to do with her?"

Cassie looked at me. She wanted me to explain. I didn't like talking about him; it made me depressed. I said, softly, "He was my brother."

No one spoke for a split second. It seemed like a long split second. But then, all three of them laughed and laughed and laughed. "Oh, now I get it! This is a joke!" Marco said. "Nice one, Cassie! You had us going for a while."

"Let me guess," added Rachel, "that's Tobias. You two were in on this all along, right? I never thought Cassie would consent to one of us morphing a human."

I looked at Cassie. "Who's Tobias?"

"Um, actually, there were five of us who got our power from your brother. Tobias was the fifth, but he, uh, got stuck in morph due to complicated reason."

"A _nothlit_?"

"Yeah, but a while ago, the Ellimist gave him his morphing power back. He's still a bird, though."

"Whoa, Ellimist." I scoffed and shivered slightly. "I haven't heard about him since the last legend I was told."

"He usually appears to us at times we really don't want to see him."

"Um, excuse us, but we're just standing here," Marco interrupted.

Cassie sighed and faced the group again. "I don't care if you don't trust her, but I do. She's not Tobias, she's Sarah. And she's trying to avenge her brothers' deaths."

"And I can do it all without any of your help, either," I added. I wanted to leave. This was exasperating. I don't care about getting them to trust me. I don't need them to trust me.

I wouldn't leave without Cassie's say so, however. I was here out of respect for her. "Okay, now wait a second," Marco said. He was talking far too much, "if Elfangor was her brother, and he was killed by Visser Three, does that mean you're going to try to convince us that he was her Guardian?"

"No," I said, "I don't need to try to convince you of anything. Whether you believe it or not doesn't make it any less true."

They laughed again. I growled. This was getting far too annoying. I didn't want to stand here and be laughed at all day. I glared at Cassie. "I'm sorry," she said, "they don't normally act like morons. They're usually very smart."

Jake looked at her. "You're calling us morons?"

"Yes, I am. Because if you weren't, you would trust me!"

"We do trust you! We just don't trust her."

"But if you trust me, you would trust her. If she really was a Yeerk, don't you think she'd make an excuse to go to them by now? Come on, Jake, you know what that's like!"

He glared at her and almost sneered. Jake was a Yeerk? "That is none of her business, Cassie."

"Look, I'm through here," I said at last. "I don't want to wait around any longer. You guys don't trust me, and that's fine. I don't need your help to kill Visser Three. I can do that on my own."

"Sarah, wait! Please!" Cassie grabbed my arm in a reassuring way. It would have been so easy to break away, but I didn't. It was her eyes that stopped me, not her hand. "Give them some more time, please! Don't leave us yet!"

"Oh, no, by all means, go," said Marco.

"Even if I did," I muttered, "would you really let me live? I know all about you now. You don't trust me here. What makes me believe you'll just let me live if I walk out of this barn?"

My question was answered when Jake turned away from me. They were going to kill me if I left. They were going to kill me anyway. They had to: I knew all about them. And I'm sure they blamed Cassie for it, too.

"We'll have a vote," said Jake.

"It's an unfair vote," Rachel pointed out. "It's just the four of us."

Jake sighed. He hesitated before speaking, as if gathering his thoughts. "Fine. We'll post-pone the vote until all members are present."

"Great idea, Jake. Show her where everyone is."

He ignored her. "Let's go to the forest. We'll find Tobias' tree and make the vote there." He walked out of the barn first. Cassie still held onto my arm. Rachel and Marco didn't move. I assumed they were waiting for me to leave first. I glared at Cassie until she let my arm go, then I left the barn.

We headed towards the forest, taking the path Cassie and I did earlier. I asked her, "If you knew they were going to decide to kill me, why did you allow me to meet them?"

She whispered, "Because I seriously thought they would trust you, too."

"We may have at one point," admitted Jake, "but David ruined it."

"I see. I can understand you. I would probably do the same thing in your position." Jake said nothing in reply.

We walked further and further down the path, and eventually turned off it. Cassie was always by my side, Jake was in the lead and Marco and Rachel were behind us. "Just to let you know," I said, "I won't allow you to kill me. I have to avenge my brothers first. I don't care what happens to me after that."

"We won't kill you," Jake said. I scoffed.

"Yeah, right. What did you do to that David kid?"

"Something worse," Cassie muttered. I've always believed there were worse fates than death, so I didn't ask what.

We eventually reached a beautiful field with short grass, little trees and a small stream as well. Jake walked over to one tree and sort of looked in it. There was a squawk, a ruffle of feathers and Jake's head snapped back just in time to allow a red-tailed hawk to soar out. It flew around a bit, and then landed on a log near the tree it flew out of. It glared at me and stayed near Jake. I saw Jake's head nod ever so slightly. I assumed the _nothlit_, Tobias, was speaking to him.

"Um, Sarah, that's Tobias," Cassie introduced. Feeling slightly ridiculous, I nodded at the bird. It did not move nor reply. Cassie called to the bird, "Tobias, this is Sarah. She's my friend."

Again, nothing from the bird. It just perched on the log, glaring. Marco said, "Well, this is fun: we're talking to a bird. I always knew my life was crazy."

Cassie said, "We're having a vote as to what to do with Sarah."

"I vote to kill her," Rachel said instantly, sneering at me. "It's been coming for a long time."

"I always knew you were blood-thirsty," I said, sneering right back, "but I never knew you would be happy to actually take a life. That is, if you even _can_ kill me."

"I could do it right here, right now."

"That's enough," Jake said, calmly. He might as well have shouted. He turned to me. "Tell Tobias about your family."

A cough. "Do you know how long it took me to tell Cassie?"

"About just your brothers, then. Why are you avenging them?"

I sighed. I was getting annoyed telling the same story over and over again. "My Guardian, Visser Three, murdered them, okay? Would it be alright if I don't explain this story again? You don't have anyone else for me to tell this story to, do you?"

"And your brothers' names?" Jake pressed on.

"Look, this is a tad ridiculous, okay? You trust me as much as I trust you. For all I know, this could be some kind of set up for me."

"Tell Tobias your brothers' names."

"Why should I?"

((Because I'd like to know,)) replied a voice in my head. I looked at Tobias. I guessed he was the one who spoke. I said nothing, but glared. He was a hawk, so his gaze was only slightly worse than mine. ((I don't trust you any more than they do. But I would like to know about this, if Jake feels it's so important that I know.))

I sighed. "My older brother's name was Elfangor. My little brother was Aximili."

The hawk didn't change his gaze, but he did look up at Jake, who nodded. When Tobias looked back at me, he asked, ((And Visser Three murdered both of them?))

"No, of course not," I replied sarcastically. "I didn't just say that a few seconds ago. How could I? I was talking to a tree."

((Did you watch him do it?))

"I watched him kill Elfangor. I saw the Dome ship burn in the atmosphere and crash somewhere. A ship of that size would have exploded on contact. They're both dead. Now, if it's alright, I would rather not discuss this further." I tried to stop the tears, but I failed. A few seeped out of my face before I knew it. Marco looked like he was going to say something snide, but reconsidered. Rachel didn't even look. Good. I don't need them commenting on my show of weakness.

((Would you guys excuse me for a minute?)) Tobias asked. Jake nodded and Tobias opened his wings and flapped into the sky. I watched him disappear into the woods.

"Where's he going?" I asked Cassie.

"Um, when we found your brother, he was affected most by his death," she explained. "I guess he just wants to be alone."

"He's not the only one," I muttered, glaring at the other three.

Rachel asked, "And why do you care so much about revenge anyway? Jake has a brother but he's no where near as protective as you are."

I looked at Jake and saw his lip twitch. I bet Jake cares about his brother very much. I replied, "My brothers saved my life. I owe them everything. Elfangor was my mentor and my father figure. Aximili was my best friend and confidant. I will not rest until I've avenged both of them."

I wiped away my tears and focused on my task at hand, which was revenge. I felt Cassie put her hand on my shoulder compassionately. I shook it off. I didn't need support. And how much longer will I stand in this forest, surrounded by people who hated me?

"If you're all going to attempt to kill me, you might as well do it now," I said.

"I told you, we won't kill you," Jake said.

"You're going to attempt to do to me what you did to David?"

"No. Just give us a minute, okay?"

"A minute to do what?"

"To wait for Tobias to get back," Marco replied, softly. Was he being nice for once?

"For your vote."

"Among other things," replied Rachel. I sighed. Fine. A few more minutes and then –

I heard crashing in the distance, coming closer. My head jerked to the direction. Tobias flew back into the field and perched on the log again. When he was settled, he said, ((Sorry for being late. It took a while to find him.))

The crashing got louder. "Find who? I'm not explaining that story again," I said.

"I don't think you'll need to," said Jake, smiling. What was going on?

The crashing finally stopped. Someone came into the clearing near Jake and Tobias. ((I came as fast as I could. Tobias said there was an emergency?))

He looked at me. I looked at him. Time seemed to stop. All sounds and movements were blocked from my mind. The only thing I focused on was the new comer. A wave of memory and emotion hit me all at once. I had to strongly focus on how to keep balance. I couldn't speak. My mouth was agape in disbelief.

My brother was alive!

He looked at me with more emotion than I did. He looked as if he would fall over. He focused all his eyes on me. He was the first to speak. ((Sarah?))

I managed to make my lips move. "Aximili?" I replied. "You're alive? But… But, you're supposed to be dead!"

((You are supposed to be dead as well.))

"How did you? How did…? You're so…! What's going on?" I had never felt so sad and happy at the same time. For the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, blubbering like and idiot. I vaguely saw Cassie tearing up, holding her hand to her mouth, but I didn't focus much on that.

((It is good to see you again.))

I cried. I stood there, crying. I knew there were people around me, but I didn't care. I also didn't bother to stop myself. I wouldn't have been able to even if I tried. I tried to speak; to say anything to my brother, but no words came out. My anguish came out like a waterfall. I hadn't seen my brother in months, and thought he was dead all this time. Now he was here, in front of me.

I felt him gather me into his arms and hold me to his chest. He had grown much since I last saw him. I was grateful he had that chance. I cried on his chest for a long time, only vaguely aware of the others. They didn't matter; it was only my brother and me now.

Hours, or perhaps days, later, I looked back up at him. "It is good to see you, too."

He looked back at me. ((Sarah, your smile always brightens your face. You're much prettier that way.))

So I smiled. My cheeks hurt when I did. I hadn't done it in so long. I smiled and then did something else I hadn't done in a long time: I laughed. I laughed and laughed until it hurt. I turned to the others, smiling and laughing, finally acknowledging their presence. I saw Cassie crying at this point, but they were tears of happiness.

Marco looked at me for a while and finally said, "Whoa, she's like a whole different person when she smiles, huh?"

"Doesn't look like Death anymore, you mean," Rachel added.

"Oh, no, she's still Death. Just a less evil Death."

"This is nothing. You should see me when I'm really into it," I said.

Marco leaned over to Cassie and whispered loudly and dramatically, "I'm afraid of her now."

I laughed again. It felt good to laugh. It felt like my whole world was brighter. I no longer cursed the sky or the sun, which shone brightly on my damp face. I looked over at Jake, who was smiling approvingly.

I stepped back from my brother a bit. "Aximili, you don't look well. Have you been eating right?"

((Earth vegetation is not like it is back home,)) he replied.

"Not to mention he stuffs his face with cinnamon buns," Marco added.

((How does one stuff their face? I thought humans did that to dead animals?))

"He means eats a lot of," I explained.

((Ah.))

"We're all going to the mall now," Jake said. "Do you two wanna join us?"

"What about our vote?" asked Rachel.

"Oh. Okay. All in favour of her joining us?" All of them said 'Aye'. It made me grin. "All opposed?" No one said a word. Marco coughed dramatically. "Alright then."

I chuckled. "I'll go to the mall with you guys." I turned to Aximili. "Do you have a human morph?"

((Yes.)) He proceeded to morph into a human. I could see that he was no better at morphing than he used to be. He still had no basic rhythm. For example, his legs were the first to go. He fell forward and Cassie and I had to hold him up.

"I see you still haven't improved," I mocked.

((I've never been a good morpher,)) he replied.

"Have you seen Cassie yet?" Rachel asked. "She's the best of us all."

"No I'm not," she replied, blushing.

After my brother's two remaining legs thickened, he was able to stand on his own. His arms also thickened, and some of his fingers disappeared. His stalk eyes disappeared into his head and his two front eyes rounded out. He developed a nose and a mouth as well. After he started growing hair, I noticed how drastically under-dressed he was.

"Have you, uh, got any better clothes than that?" I asked, smirking a bit.

"No," he replied. "I don't morph human often, so I have no need of better clothes. K-loh-oh-ssssss."

"Aximili, don't do that. Only human children do that."

"Do what? Whaaa -"

"That. Don't play with your words."

"Oh, don't bother," said Jake. "We've been trying to get him to stop for a long time to no success."

I laughed. "Is Tobias coming?" I asked. The hawk just shifted.

((No; I'll stay here. We don't need an army to go to the mall,)) he replied.

Marco whispered to me, "He doesn't like going human. He thinks we're blind and deaf."

((You are,)) Tobias replied. ((Plus you're too close to the ground. It's rather uncomfortable.))

"How did you cope before becoming a _nothlit_?"

((I don't know.))

"Well, let's go if we're going," Jake announced.

"Sure thing, oh fearless leader," mocked Marco, giving him a small salute. Jake rolled his eyes. "But I do have one question first." He turned to Aximili. "Why didn't you ever tell us you had a sister?"

"You didn't ask," my brother replied. "Besides, it would have been rather difficult to explain how I have a human sister."

"Touché."

"I still don't trust you," Rachel muttered to me, "and I'm still going to get back at you for beating me in gym class."

"I would love to see you try," I challenged. She smirked at me, accepting the challenge.

All in all, I was very happy. I had friends. That's what they were: friends. And my favourite little brother by my side, as well. My life was starting to look up for the first time in months…


	9. Chapter 8

It was night time; well past what would normally be considered bed time. I wasn't in my room at The Hole, though: I was with my brother. The old lady didn't care when I came home, as long as it wasn't in a police car.

I was running alongside my brother. We just charged the forest, like we used to on the Dome ship or on the Andalite home world. The past few months were not good on me, I realized, as it was harder to keep up with him than it used to be.

((Are you tired?)) he asked me, as we leaped over a log.

"Of course not!" I objected, puffing. Unlike Aximili, I had to use air to speak. It was exhausting to talk and run like this at the same time. Dodging around trees and over bushes didn't help, either. There was more open space back home than there is in this forest. Aximili had no trouble, though. Four legs help a great deal in that.

((We are about to approach the highway,)) Aximili said, slowing down and eventually stopping.

"Let's turn around then!" I said. He didn't move. He was breathing rather heavily. "Don't tell me you're tired!" Of course, I was sweating and panting on my own. It was a great run; I haven't had one of those in a while.

((Let's go back,)) he suggested.

"Alright." We started walking back to where his scoop was. It would take an hour or so to get there at this pace, but the walk was nice, with the cool air hitting our faces.

((You're not as carefree as you used to be,)) my brother pointed out.

"I was never carefree."

((You were at some point.))

"Well, when your brother dies, you tend to get a little miffed." Aximili lowered his stalk eyes in respect.

((Yes, I suppose you're right.))

"I should have listened to Mother and stayed home with her."

((If you had done that, we would not be together.)) He looked at me and smiled the way only an Andalite could smile.

I smiled back. "Yes, I suppose you're right." As we walked, I heard a faint ruffle of feathers and looked up. Tobias was perched in a tree near us.

((Hello guys,)) he greeted.

"Hello."

((What are you doing up so late?))

"I could ask you the same thing."

He started preening his feathers. ((I heard some noises and came to check it out.))

((We are sorry,)) Aximili said, ((I did not know we were disturbing you.))

((No, it wasn't you guys,)) Tobias assured. ((They were different noises than yours. You guys were just crashing through the forest.)) If a bird could wink, he probably would have. ((These noises sounded more cautious and curious. I hope you're not being spied on. I would check it out for you better, but it's night time, so my eyesight is as good as yours right now.))

"Do you know how close they are?"

((It sounded like they may have been several yards away.))

"Far enough not to hear me talking?"

((I think so.))

"Good." I started morphing. If Tobias couldn't check it out, I would. I've acquired enough morphs over the past few months to have one for every situation. I needed one that could see in the dark and be prepared to fight, if necessary. I would look a little out of place in this forest, unfortunately, but at least I wouldn't be seen until it was too late.

I felt that I was a fairly good morpher, having had a lot of practise in the past. Therefore, when I began the morph, the first thing that happened was that my skin turned pitch black. Next, it began to get furry. Tobias commented, ((You're as good a morpher as Cassie is.))

"Thank you," I whispered. I didn't want those people to hear me. My knees shifted next, making it impossible to stand upright. As soon as my hands hit the forest floor, they began to change to massive paws. My tailbone extended about thirty inches outwards, giving me a nice, thin, black tail. My body itself also grew and thickened, mostly with muscle.

My ears also crawled to the top of my head and turned triangular. My eyes turned golden and cat-like, while my face extended outward to form a muzzle. To fill the space in my now much larger mouth, my teeth multiplied, thinned and sharpened. My nasal passageways grew as well, and I could smell everything in the forest.

By the time my whiskers formed, I was very much aware of the bird sitting on the tree branch above me. I could reach it easily. I didn't move towards Tobias, of course. I was fairly good at keeping predator instincts in check, as I often consider myself one as well.

I had become _Panthera onca: _Black Panther. My fur matched the darkness perfectly. I could hide myself among the bushes easily. Because panthers live in forests, I could even move among the leaves quietly as well. My hearing increased as well, and I could now hear the small rumble of voices a little way off.

((I can't even see you anymore,)) Tobias said.

((I'm going to go check out those voices now,)) I replied. I stalked in the direction of the voices, barely making a sound.

((What should we do?)) Aximili asked.

((Wait for further instruction.)) I only needed to move a few yards before my ears and eyes could comprehend what was going on. There were two people in the forest, hanging around one spot on the ground. One of them was holding something. From my angle, I couldn't see what it was. The other was seemingly just wandering around in a circle, stomping the ground softly every now and then.

"Stop doing that!" the person holding the thing growled, after the other stomped the ground rather loudly. "Someone or some_thing_ will hear you."

"I can't find the spot if I don't stomp!"

"I still don't understand why we're out here. And at night of all times. Couldn't we come back in the day time?"

"The chances of us getting caught are slimmer at night. Everyone's asleep."

"I thought Andalites never sleep."

"Shows how much you know then." He stomped again and I heard a loud _CLICK_.

((What was that?)) Tobias asked. It must have been loud enough for him to hear it as well.

((I don't know yet,)) I answered.

"Found it!" proclaimed the stomping human.

"You didn't tell me it was so loud! You could have woken up the whole forest!"

"Relax; Andalite hearing isn't that good. Only animals with exceptional hearing would have heard it if they were nearby."

"Andalites can morph, stupid!"

"I already told you that they're all asleep!" The two of them got to their knees and began digging. "Turn that thing on, moron!"

"Oh, right." He flipped a switch and the thing he was holding lit one flashing red bulb. Once their small hole was dug, they sort of buried the device and stood back up.

"There. Now if any Andalite walks on our little trap, we'll have a prize for Visser Three and we'll become his right hand Yeerks. I told you this was a brilliant idea."

"Does that mean we're done? This human body is exhausted."

"Yes, we're done. You'll see. By tomorrow, we'll be the most famous Yeerks of all time."

"And I'll finally have a Hork-Bajir host instead of this useless human one."

"You see? Everything will work out."

I decided it was time to fill Tobias and Aximili in. ((They just finished setting up a trap of some kind. No doubt if an Andalite steps on it, he'll be trapped.))

((Trapped how?)) Tobias asked.

((I don't know. That's all I could gather. I'm guessing the device they buried in it tracks Andalites somehow, so as not to trap anything else.))

((In other words, Ax's in trouble.))

((Precisely.))

((How do we disable it? How many are there?))

((I don't know… Yet.))

((Yet? What do you mean by-?)) But before he finished, I had already jumped out of my hiding place and well into view of the two Yeerks. They barely looked up to see what the rustling was before I had landed on one of them.

I was 130 pounds of muscle and I not only knocked him to the ground, but by pinning him there, I must have made it very difficult for him to breathe. My cat eyes flashed in the darkness, creating a frightening display indeed.

The other Yeerk was just shivering a little ways off. I was aware of his presence, although my attention was focused on the one I was on. ((What are you doing here?!)) I roared at the two of them.

The one that was under me said to his friend, in a shaking voice, "You were wrong: they _are_ awake at night."

I roared a fairly loud panther roar. It was loud enough to wake up all the birds nearby and cause them to take flight. It was loud enough to provoke other roars and chatter from other animals. It was also loud enough for the two Yeerks to scream and cower slightly. ((When I ask a question, I do not wish to be ignored!))

"We're sorry!" they both said at once. The one under me babbled, "It wasn't my fault! I didn't want any part of this! _He_ told me to come here!"

((How many of these did you set up? And be warned: if you lie, your health will be in great danger of getting worse.))

"Five! Only five! I swear by it!"

"You idiot!" the other hissed. "Who are you more afraid of? This Andalite or Visser Three?"

((From what I heard,)) I pointed out, he does not know of this. ((Would he be pleased if you informed him of working behind his back?)) The two said nothing. No, he wouldn't be pleased. Of course not: he likes to be in the middle of everything. ((You will take me to each trap and dismantle it correctly before my eyes, understand?))

"Y-Yes sir!" I got off the one Yeerk and he immediately jumped to his feet. They both looked as if they'd flee, but I had better vision, speed and strength than they did; they would not get far if they ran.

((Sarah that could take hours!)) Tobias told me sternly. ((And you're already in trouble for jumping out there without a plan!))

((What would you have me do instead?)) I asked him, following the Yeerks as they approached the other trap they set up. Although Tobias was right, I was determined to see this to the end.

((I don't know; maybe thought about it? And they still could be lying about how many traps they set up in the first place.))

((I will trust my sister's judgement,)) Aximili spoke up at last. Inside, I grinned. ((What will you have me do?))

((Do you have any nocturnal morphs?))

((A few.))

((If Tobias is right, and this takes hours, we'll have to do this in shifts. After about an hour and a half, you'll follow them, and so on.))

((Agreed.))

I felt like my General instincts were coming back. Taking charge, leading an army, making decisions… This was not my place anymore. The title of 'leader' belonged to Jake now, not me.

But Jake was not here, and I had already gotten into this mess. I had to take charge to get out of it. I heard Tobias scoff in my head and fly off, probably back to his tree. I heard my brother silently follow behind me, making sure to keep his presence away from the Yeerks in front of me.

This was not how I expected to spend my night, but we did manage to disarm all five traps before the sun poked up. I allowed the two now exhausted Yeerks to leave alive, and waited for them to be gone completely before I demorphed back to human.

((I am glad you let them go,)) Aximili said. ((There was a time when you would have killed them without hesitation.))

"Yeah, I know," I replied. I smiled at him. "But you and your brother gave me a conscious."

((Annoying thing sometimes, isn't it?))

I laughed. "Yes. But it _is_ useful."

((Yes.))


	10. Chapter 9

The day did not begin on a good note. Firstly, I had to walk back to The Hole from the forest, because the buses weren't running that early, and flying into my home in bird form would look strange, considering the Drug Lords are awake at this time. Secondly, by the time I got to the road that led to The Hole, several hours later, Jake was there, waiting for me. How long he was there I couldn't guess, but I know Tobias was the one who told him what happened the previous night.

As soon as I got within earshot, Jake snapped, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean?" I stopped walking to stand in front of him. Without realizing it, I had adapted a pose I usually had when Visser Three spoke to me: my shoulders back, my head up, my expression emotionless. It was a pose I deemed respectable for my leader.

I guess I really did consider Jake my leader now.

"I'm talking about last night. You could have easily avoided a confrontation. What were you trying to prove?"

"They were setting up traps. I got them to dismantle them."

"But now they _know_ there are Andalites there."

"You're telling me they didn't before?"

He sighed. "I'm just trying to keep the Yeerks on their toes."

"It's easy to do that, considering who their leader is."

We both said nothing for a while. Then, Jake rubbed the back of his head and sighed again. "Look; adjusting to a new person, who has new and unfamiliar quirks, is difficult. I know you're used to doing things differently from us, but I guess we both have to adapt."

"I see why you're the leader," I said. "You face a problem and always maintain a cool head."

"And this is also why you shouldn't make decisions on your own," he said, rather coldly. "You just jump into things without thinking. Doing that could get someone hurt, or worse."

"With all due respect, sir, I have been leading armies since I was five. I know how to make quick decisions. What seems like irrationality to you is just a quickly formulated plan."

"Whatever. The point is, if you're going to fight along side us, just try to get us involved in your quick decisions so we can all be on the same page, alright?"

"Alright."

"And another thing: did you just call me 'sir'?"

I smirked. "Sorry; force of habit."

He grinned as well. "Try to break that habit, okay? It's bad enough Ax calls me 'Prince'."

I had to laugh at that: my brother calling a human 'Prince'. Jake must have been a better leader than I gave him credit for if Aximili is giving him such a compliment. When I finished, I asked, "May I go home now? I'm rather tired."

"Yeah, whatever. By the way: do you have a phone number, in case we need to reach you for emergencies?"

"I'm one of the only kids in The Hole with her own phone line. The old lady trusts me far too much than she should." I wrote down my number on a piece of paper Jake provided me, with a pen he also gave to me. "Also, the lines are most definitely tapped, so just be careful what you say."

"That won't be a problem." We parted ways from there. I started to walk back to The Hole, but part way there, I decided I really didn't want to go home just yet. What would I do there? Sleep, homework, dodge stupid, misguided kids… No, I wanted to do other things first.

I found myself heading to the mall. I've only been in there a few times, but this time I would explore it more. The doors opened instantly for me, and then the noises, smells and sights of the mall hit me. I remembered why I hated the mall.

"Sarah!" I heard a voice. I looked around and felt a tap on my shoulder. On pure instinct alone, I turned around, grabbed the wrist of the hand that tapped me and twisted. "Ow! Let me go will you?!"

It was Cassie. I let go instantly. "Sorry," I said, "I don't like people sneaking up on me."

"I can tell." She was rubbing her wrist. "What brings you to the mall?"

"Curiosity, mostly."

"Oh, well, I'm here with Rachel. She's at The Gap right now. I was just going to the washroom quickly. Come on!" She took my arm and led me to The Gap. Her pulling me was unnecessary, but she didn't let me go until we entered the store. She pointed out Rachel, who was looking over a rather attractive, expensive garment. We walked over to her.

"Hi, Rachel!" Cassie greeted. Rachel was quick to sneer at me.

"I see you brought your friend," she said to Cassie, while staring at me.

"Yeah, and I never knew you'd be able to afford something like that," I replied, nodding at the garment she held in her hands.

"Well, at least I know good taste when I see it. You look like to need a make-over. What you're wearing is worse than Cassie."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," Cassie muttered. She and Rachel snickered. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on," said Rachel. She motioned me to follow her. She grabbed a few things from a rack, scoffed, put them back, and repeated that process for the next twenty minutes.

When she finally found something, she held it up to me, nodded approval and said, "Try that on."

"I'd rather not."

"You wanna look like garbage your whole life?"

"And this isn't garbage?"

"If Rachel picks it," Cassie said, "then it isn't garbage."

"Fine." I took the outfit she handed me and proceeded to the dressing room. The clothes were a tight fit, but I did get them on. I walked out of the room and Rachel was looking smug and happy.

"I told you I could make her look good," she said to Cassie. "Now we just need to do something about your hair."

"Why do I have to put up with this?" I asked.

"That's what happens when you go into the mall at the same time as Rachel," Cassie pointed out. After paying for the clothes Rachel picked out for me, which used up a great deal of my allowance, I allowed them to drag me to various places in the mall, including hair salons, nail salons, other clothing stores, accessory shops… I felt very ridiculous, but with every place we left, Rachel was more and more happy.

She would take me to mirrors all over the mall and I realized that I really did look a lot better. My rugged edge was still present, but at least the new clothes, hair, and accessories made me look like a real person.

"I bet if we showed you to Jake and Marco they'd totally not recognize you," Rachel said.

"Especially if she smiled at them," Cassie added.

"Let's grab some food."

"You guys used up all my money," I muttered.

"Then we'll buy you lunch."

"It's lunch time already?" I asked, shocked.

"Yup. Time flies when you're having fun, huh?" Rachel said. She and Cassie took me to the food court and bought me a giant burger with a large order of fries. When we sat down to eat, I almost wolfed down the fries.

"Hungry much?" Cassie asked.

"I haven't eaten all day," I said. "I was up very early this morning."

"We know; Tobias told us." I glared at them. Only Rachel glared back.

"Are all my movements to be reported?"

"You're new, so until we know for sure we can trust you, yes; your movements will be reported."

"I see. So even though you accepted me into this group, I'm still not a part of it?"

"Not until we trust you."

"I trust you, Sarah," Cassie interjected.

I sighed. "Don't worry about it; I'd do the same in your position."

We ate in silence for a while. "So; what's it like looking like a girl instead of a drowned rat?" Rachel asked.

"Different."

"At least you let me make you over." She looked at Cassie, who laughed.

"I like the way I look just fine," she said.

"I can make you look irresistible." They laughed again. I just smirked.

When I finished my burger, someone came up to us: someone who was neither Jake nor Marco. I looked up at this boy questioningly.

"Hello," he said to us. His gaze included all of us, but rested on me just as confusingly as I did him.

"Hi, Erek," Cassie greeted, a little wearingly. Rachel just nodded. Neither of them was smiling. They both looked rather uncomfortable, actually.

The boy, Erek, actually looked a little sad, but he replied, "What's up?"

"This is Sarah," Rachel said, finally.

"Hello, Sarah." I just nodded at him. He cleared his throat. "Actually I was wondering if I could talk to you two alone." He looked at Rachel and Cassie. "It's about our math homework."

Almost as if ignoring him, Cassie introduced me to Erek. "Sarah, this is Erek. He's a Chee."

Erek was taken aback and kind of gasped. I just said, "A what?"

"It's a long, long story."

"Can-Can you guys explain a little more?" Erek requested.

"That's another long, long story," Rachel said.

"What did you want to tell us?" Cassie asked. The two of them looked so serious. Whoever this Erek was, he must have been either powerful or some other kind of influence.

Erek sat down at our table. He analyzed me for a moment before speaking again. "Can I trust you?"

"I trust her," said Cassie, instantly. "That should be good enough."

He sighed. "Alright. I'll have to talk about this with Jake later." I felt and saw the lighting shimmer a bit, and Erek completely changed his appearance. He wasn't a human kid anymore: he looked more like a robotic dog that could stand up. Though on the outside my expression and body movements were unchanged, on the inside, I jumped.

But the people around us in the food court just walked on passed. In fact, their voices had dimmed considerably. I looked at Erek with a raised eyebrow, waiting for an explanation. "As you probably have guessed, I'm an android," Erek explained. It was a little weird hearing a voice come out of a robot. "And I extended my hologram around us. As far as everyone else is concerned, we're talking about the math homework."

"Very impressive," I said, sincerely. "I would be interested in learning more about your race, when there's time to do so."

Erek smiled at me, which was another feat I wouldn't have expected from him. "Anyway, there is a serious manner in which I come to you."

"It usually is," Rachel muttered.

Erek's face went grim. "Tobias came to tell me earlier this morning. He was actually going to Jake's, but found me first. I went to your house first -" he nodded towards Rachel, "- but your mother told me you were at the mall, so here I am. And I found both of you. Or, I guess, the three of you." He looked at me. "We'll have to be more properly introduced later."

"Stop beating around the bush and tell us why you're here," Rachel demanded. Cassie just sat quietly. I was analyzing Erek intently. From what I gathered so far, I guessed Erek was their sort of messenger, although that may have only been half the truth. He seemed more powerful than that.

Erek cleared his throat and tried his best to avoid eye contact with any of us. "I assume Jake's going to tell Marco -"

"What?!" Rachel practically exploded.

"Rachel, calm down!" Cassie snapped.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I just don't know the easiest way to say this, okay?" Erek said. Rachel instantly calmed down. I figured Erek doesn't get this down very often. He cleared his throat. "Tobias told me the story of what happened last night, where those two Controllers set up traps for Andalites in the forest."

I sat up straighter and glared at Erek. He better not be saying what I think he's saying. "We dismantled all five of them," I said.

Erek looked at me. "Oh; Tobias didn't say you were there."

I sneered. "Of course he didn't. I'm still not technically part of this group. No one except Cassie trusts me."

"Ax trusts you, too," Cassie pointed out.

"Uh, speaking of Ax," Erek whispered. All three heads turned to him in silent unison. Erek just avoided us altogether by turning his head to the side. "Apparently there were six traps, not five."

"WHAT?!" I roared. I grabbed Erek by what would normally be the collar, but of course, my hands grabbed nothing. Therefore, I just grabbed his neck and squeezed as hard as I could. He was made of metal, so even that was a futile attempt, but it proved my point. "If you value your life, you will _not_ tell me what I know you're going to say next!"

"You can't kill me, Sarah," Erek said calmly, making no effort to push me away. "And if you don't want me to say it, then I won't. You already know what happened."

"How can you speak so calmly about the capture of _my brother_?!"

He looked at me with as much confusion as an android could muster. "Your what?"

"Long story," Rachel said, quickly, already standing up. Cassie was still sitting, hand to her mouth in disbelief. "What are we going to do? Where is he held? What's happening?"

"I was in the Yeerk Pool a few hours ago, when the two Controllers came with Ax in tow, bragging about what happened. When I left, I was heading to Jake's place, and Tobias filled in what the Yeerks missed. Tobias told me to get you guys and meet by his tree as soon as possible."

I was still holding Erek's neck. I kept squeezing harder and harder, making no damage to the android, but much to my hands. My eyes were tearing up, but not with sadness: with rage. If Aximili was in the Yeerk Pool, then to the Yeerk Pool I shall go…


	11. Chapter 10

I arrived at Tobias' tree must faster than Rachel and Cassie. Jake and Marco were already there. I decided against using the bus and just ran. I ran and ran and ran, as fast as I could. I beat the other girls by a good half hour.

When we all assembled, Jake said, "Suggestions?"

Before Rachel opened her mouth, I said instantly, "We go down to the Yeerk Pool and get my brother back."

"I can see why Rachel likes her now," Marco commented. "Reckless, no plan, just action."

"I do have a plan, actually, but I don't lead this group."

Jake shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Obviously we're going to go get him back," he said, "but we do need a plan. That's why I asked for suggestions."

"And if you have a plan, lay it on us," Marco said to me. They were all looking at me.

I took a deep breath and told them my plan: go down to the Yeerk Pool, possibly as insects, get me into their so called food court, where their weapons should also be stored, and while they create a distraction in the main Pool area, I will get a Dracon Beam and blast away any opposition, while getting Aximili out of there.

"Great plan," Marco said, sarcastically. "While _we_ get ourselves killed, you'll get a weapon and attack? We don't even trust you enough for that."

"Not to mention your accuracy may not be so good," Rachel added.

"My accuracy is perfect," I said.

"Oh, and she's humble, too," said Marco. I sneered at him.

"Jake asked for suggestions and I gave mine."

"Thank you," Jake interjected before Marco could give another comment. "Any other suggestions?"

"Battle morphs and we kick butt!" Rachel said, with much passion.

"And that would be no different from what I suggested," I muttered.

"No, I said _battle morphs_ and kicking butt. _You_ just want a distraction so you can use a Dracon Beam in, what, human form?"

"My human form _is_ my battle morph."

"You couldn't go up against a Hork-Bajir in human form!"

"Not like I haven't before."

"Okay, enough!" Jake put in, loud enough not to be like him at all. Everyone was quiet. "Fighting and arguing isn't going to get Ax back!"

((We have another problem,)) Tobias pointed out. We looked up at him. ((There's that new security device at every entrance to the Pool now, remember?))

"What device?" I asked.

((It's called a Gleet BioFilter. It scans for Yeerk DNA, and if it doesn't find any, it purifies the area, thus killing any body a Yeerk isn't in.))

"Oh; that." I thought quickly.

"What do you mean, 'oh that'?" Marco asked.

"Sush." I kept thinking. Maybe I still knew Visser Three's security code? But that was years ago; surely he would have changed it, if he were intelli- "I think I still know Visser Three's code. I can disable that scanner before we get into it."

"How do you know his code?" Jake asked.

"I grew up with him. I picked up a few things."

((He also has robot like things guarding the other side of the entrances,)) Tobias added. ((They fire on anything that moves that isn't Yeerk.))

"Not a problem," I said. "If I use Visser Three's code to get by, they won't fire on me."

"They will know it's not him when he doesn't emerge on the other side."

"They don't have to; they're robots. They can only tell the difference between people based on their code. All they'll know is that Visser Three is coming out and not to fire." Everyone looked at me expectantly. I asked, "Is there anything else?"

"How do we create a diversion?" Jake asked, grinning. Cassie smiled as well. Despite the situation, I felt pleased that the leader, at least, trusted me now.

"Hold on a second!" Marco said. "It's considerably more complicated than that, isn't it?"

"And as I already stated, I'm not the leader here. This is your group, Jake. You tell us what to do, as long as you can get me into the food court and divert attention out of there to you in the main area."

"There's not much to think about," said Rachel. "Sarah punches the code, we morph insects, we go in, we kick butt, we save Ax, and we leave. Easy as pie."

Everyone except me laughed. It was very impressive that they could do that, despite the situation. ((There's another problem,)) Tobias brought up.

"Only one?" Marco joked.

((What if Ax is already taken?))

There was a small silence. I broke it. "He isn't."

"How do you know?" asked Cassie.

"Because Visser Three is an arrogant bastard who likes to brag to death his accomplishments."

"That's true."

"Besides, most likely he's waiting for the rest of the so called 'Andalite Bandits' so he can capture them all at once. It's better for his image that way. Imagine telling the Council of Thirteen that he caught everyone at the same time? It'll make up for him letting you get away for so long."

((So if he already knows we're coming, wouldn't he have changed his code?))

"The only people who know his code are him and me. And he probably thinks I went down with the Dome ship months ago. Not to mention he doesn't know I know his code."

Hesitation. ((What if you get the code wrong?))

"Then an alarm will sound in the Pool and guards will rush out to see who's trying to hack the system."

"Oh, well, is that all?" Marco asked. "That's a little too much risk, don't you think?"

"I know his code. Trust me!"

"I don't think so. Any other plans?"

"Do you have any siblings, Marco?" I demanded.

"No."

"Then you shut up and let me do this." My eyes were tearing up again. "I will do anything; take any risk, to get my brother back."

"I understand," Cassie said, silently.

"You don't have siblings, either."

"But you said Ax was your best friend. I know what it would be like to lose my best friend. I would do anything for him and her as well."

Another silence. The only thing I could hear was my own breathing. They didn't trust me. I should have figured. I didn't need them. "I don't need you," I said, angrily. "I can get him back myself. I just got Aximili back: I am _not_ losing him again!" With that, I turned around and proceeded to walk out of the forest.

"I didn't dismiss you yet!" shouted Jake. I halted immediately. I slowly turned to face him. He was trying to look intimidating, but I saw the red on his cheeks. Acting like the boss was embarrassing to him. Nevertheless, I stood straight, shoulders back, at attention. I glared at him, not saying a word, awaiting instruction. "Now," Jake finally said, turning away from me to the others, "Sarah knows the code, so we'll do as Rachel says: go in, get Ax, get out. Easy as pie."

"Can't think of any better way to spend my Sunday," Marco added.

"Any questions?" Jake asked, looking at me expectantly.

I just said, "No, sir."

"Don't call me 'Prin-', uh, 'sir'," he said right away. Everyone laughed.

It always impressed me how they could laugh in situations like this.

((Next problem,)) Tobias put in.

"See? I knew he had more," said Marco.

Ignoring him, Tobias continued, ((Which entrance will we use? It has to be one not used often; something that leads to like a back way.))

"There's one near The Hole," I suggested. "It should be good enough: it's far enough away from the mall that I know of, and if I remember correctly, the mall is the biggest Yeerk attraction."

"Do you know where it is exactly?" Cassie asked.

"And how to get into it?" Rachel added.

"Yes."

"Then that's where we go," Jake said. "Everyone go home and make up some feeble excuse to explain why you're not going to be home until late."

"Better yet, let's explain why we may not get home at all," Marco said. I don't think he was joking. Everyone looked grim about this mission. They must have had bad experiences with the Yeerk Pool before.

"We'll go in as soon as everyone meets at The Hole -"

"No." I interrupted. They all looked at me. I doubt they expected me to interrupt Jake. "We will not meet at The Hole. That place is swarming with the scum of the earth. They will actually gang up on someone like Rachel to try to rape her. They will push drugs on you until you either buy them or get hospitalized. I will not allow you to go anywhere near The Hole."

"Your concern is touching, Sarah," Marco said, sarcastically, placing his hand to his heart over-dramatically, "but I seriously doubt anyone could rape Rachel, or hurt the rest of us. We fight the Yeerks, okay? We've gone up against seven-foot razor-blades of death. Drug dealers are the least of our worries."

"Do you fear _me_, Marco?" He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Why do you think I live there? Do you think I'm the fairy princess of that place? Those people are very much like me."

After a short, uncomfortable silence, Rachel said, "Well, she makes a good point."

"We'll meet near the park. The entrance to the Pool is closer to the park anyway."

"The park it is," Jake concluded. "Everyone hurry up."

"Or else I'll go without you," I muttered…

* * *

I was the first to arrive at the rendezvous point. As I stated earlier, the old lady didn't care when I came home. Tobias came shortly after I did. Apparently he hadn't eaten at all that day.

Next came Cassie, whose home was closest to the forest, so she could talk to her parents before anyone else. Rachel came next, then Jake. Marco didn't arrive for a much longer time later, claiming his father wasn't home when he got there.

"Okay, Sarah; where's the entrance?" Jake asked. I nodded and led them away from the park and through some bushes, in the direction of The Hole, but still far enough away not to attract attention. We wedged in between a tall fence and a huge building, which was actually The Hole's abandoned recreation centre. We walked the tiny area all the way to the back door of the Rec centre, opened it, and was hit by a nasty wave of cigarette smoke, booze, and grass, which of course was not really grass at all.

It was one room, no lights, dirty floor and a very high ceiling. The door I opened was the only door that could open. Littered on the floor, besides dirt and butts, were abandoned and long worn-out basketballs and other such sports equipment. There were also the remnants of what could have been a pool, but was now a container for just about all the garbage on the planet.

And there were already two other people in the now shed-like Rec centre: both teenagers, no doubt dwellers of The Hole. I never made it a policy to get to know the people there, although the boy looked somewhat familiar.

"Eh, Sarah? What you doin' 'ere?" said the boy. His grammar or lack there of, made my teeth grind ever so slightly.

"Who dat?" asked his female companion. Now I understood why no one from The Hole goes to school.

"She just some low ass -" and the language here does not bear repeating. Even Marco looked away uncomfortably. I just stood there, glaring as I always do.

"This is my spot now, moron," I said.

"Hey; if you value you life, bitch, you'll git outta here!"

"Make me." The boy didn't budge. His female friend cowered a bit. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he still didn't make a move. I snickered. "All talk, no action. Now you 'git' out before I make _you_!"

The boy scurried away rather quickly. The girl backed out slowly, keeping an eye on me and trying to move as far away from me as she could. When they were out of sight, Marco whispered to me, "Wow, you're scary."

"Thank you." We walked into the building. Rachel shut the door behind.

((Hey! It's dark in here!)) Tobias complained.

"Do you think those kids noticed a giant red-tail coming in here with us?" Jake asked.

"Please. They were probably so doped up that they didn't even realize there was anyone with me."

"There are advantages to living in The Hole, I guess."

"Yeah. Loads." I walked to the very back of the room, where almost no light was shining. I felt around the wall, hoping to find a little outcropping of wood. I'd only seen this entrance used a few times, so I wasn't too sure if I could find it.

After five minutes, though, I found it. "Ah, here it is."

"What are you looking for?"

"This." I pulled the piece of wood as far out as it would come. A few clicks later, a big chunk of the wall moved aside and a brightened panel emerged. There was a small screen that flashed the message 'Input Code', and a tiny keypad with symbols and numbers, instead of letters.

"Oh, that's subtle," muttered Rachel.

"The only people who can even reach this place are drug dealers and addicts," I pointed out, staring at the keyboard. "No one would even notice a small piece of wood sticking out here in the shadows. It took me five minutes to find it, and I was actually looking for it."

All the symbols on the keyboard were Yeerk symbols. I recognized most of them. "Damn," I muttered.

"What?" Cassie asked, from beside me.

((You don't remember the code, do you?))

"No, I know the code." I sighed. "I just don't remember what _that_ symbol means."

"We don't have time for Yeerk Alphabet 101," Marco pointed out.

"Alright, alright! Get ready to go cockroach." I put my hand on the keyboard and closed my eyes. I knew the code. I hope. What if I _did_ get it wrong? Even one symbol, one number, one slip up, and it'll all be over. We'll all be dead. It would take less than a minute to get troops out from the Pool.

I tried to breathe steadily. Come on, Sarah; you know the code! _Remember to rely on your instincts. If you know it's right, if you truly believe in your heart and soul that it's right, then it's right._

My brother was very wise, I thought. I sighed, and input the code. It was a very long code, and my fingers flew over the keyboard. It would be faster and easier to do it if I had more fingers. I suppose that's why Visser Three made it look short. Ten, twenty, thirty numbers later, I heard a short _blip_, and the message on the screen changed.

Access Granted.

A door formed in the wood and cracked open slightly. There was a collective sigh. "Whew! That was close," Marco said.

"He hasn't changed his code in over three years," I muttered. "What an idiot."

"Cockroach time," Jake announced, just as two antennae sprouted out of his head. The others followed suit. Tobias' change was the strangest, as he had to go cockroach from a hawk body.

They were taking too long to morph. "Come on, guys. It's not going to allow access forever. If we don't get in there soon, it'll lock on us."

((We're hurrying!)) When they had finally morphed all the way, I collected them up in my hands and dumped them in my pocket. ((Hey, watch it! I fell on Cassie.))

((Sorry.))

((Too bad for you, Jake.))

((Shut up!))

I walked passed the door, closing it behind me. The small proceeding room was dimmed. If this really was a Gleet BioFilter, the room would be brighter. I guessed the code deactivated it. "Again: what a moron. I would have kept the Filter activated in case I was followed."

((You can tell him that when you see him.))

((Family reunion.))

"Do you want to be squished?!" I hissed loudly.

((Hey, I was only kidding!))

I exited the Filter from the other side of the room, and closed that door behind me. The Yeerk Pool was deep underground, so it didn't surprise me to find a staircase going down and down and down. Overhead light bulbs made it decent to see, though more light would have been preferable. As I descended, I passed the robotic guards, who were just sitting there, as if shut down. The code must have done that, as well.

((I'm glad I'm a roach,)) muttered Marco, ((because now I can't hear the screaming.))

For there was screaming coming up from below. And pleading, crying, threats… I heard it all. I pretty much grew up to those sounds. The only difference between then and now is that the begging and crying made me feel guilty and enraged; back when I was younger, those sounds wouldn't touch me at all.

The deeper I went, the louder the noises. Hundreds of voices merging together. I had a strong urge to save them all, and at the same time, I wished they'd stop.

My second wish came true first. ((SILENCE!)) The roar shook my head. I stopped moving, but only on instinct alone.

((Well, we know who's down there,)) Jake whispered. There was no need to whisper as long as he was speaking only to us. I guess he had the same reservations as I did.

There was no more screaming or crying. There was faint muttering, a few sobs, but that was it. I continued going down the stairs. I couldn't speak, because I was in human form; I would have been heard. However, Cassie spoke for me: ((We need to stop short of the staircase; just enough to get us out, Sarah morph roach, get in position -))

((And then we kick Yeerk butt!)) Rachel finished.

((I have a question,)) Marco said. ((What if Visser Three kills Ax to get us?))

I shook my head unnecessarily. They couldn't see me. ((They won't,)) replied Tobias instead. ((Waste a perfectly good Andalite body that he's already captured? He won't do that.))

I got to the end of the stairs. There were still a good twenty or so left, but there was enough cover for me to morph without being seen. I took the others out of my pocket and put them on the ground. The five of them sat perfectly still. What a very un-roach thing to do.

((What a great opportunity I have here!)) Visser Three spoke up again. ((I have a visitor to my Pool, and no doubt his friends are already here.))

I almost snickered at his stupidity. If he was really worried, he'd have guards standing at the foot of this staircase. I didn't snicker, but I almost did. Antennae sprout out of my head, much in the same way as Jake. I also allowed my back to harden and turn into sort of body length wings. I began to shrink at that point, as well.

((And I owe the capture of this Andalite to two Yeerks, standing here.))

My mouth disappeared and I instantly said to the others, ((He's going to kill those Yeerks, you know.))

((How do you know?)) asked Cassie.

((Because they went behind his back, stole technology without permission and didn't inform their Visser.))

((But they captured an Andalite. He'll reward them, won't he?))

((A quick death is the best reward anyone can get from him.))

All my bones disappeared and replaced with an exoskeleton. My arms and legs thinned out, and two more came out of my side. I could hardly see a thing, but I could smell everything. This was good enough.

((However, there is a problem,)) the Visser continued.

((Does he ever shut up?)) Marco asked.

((These Yeerks went behind my back, stole technology without permission and didn't tell me anything of their plan. You may have captured an Andalite but the fate for going against me will not be favourable.))

((Time to go,)) I announced. I hugged the wall as much as I could, and scurried across the floor.

((Watch out for hungry Taxxons!)) Marco said. The others laughed. Must have been an inside joke or something.

((However, I do reward those who exhibit initiative, so for capturing an Andalite, your deaths will be quick and as painless as possible.)) I felt the air ripple twice, the ground shake twice, and I felt, rather than heard, the whole Pool gasp.

((Wow, Sarah was right,)) Marco said, shocked. ((What else can you predict he'll do?))

((Nothing you couldn't,)) I replied. ((You can't tell me you didn't see that coming.))

((I wonder how the Andalite Bandits will invade this Pool,)) Visser Three went on. If I had eyes, I would roll them. Like I said, he likes to brag and brag. I couldn't wait to stuff his smugness back up his ass.

I was amazed by just how little obstacles I had to get passed. I figured everyone was waiting for the Visser to do something. My roach antennae led me to the food court easily. I hid under a table and smelt around. There were a few humans here, but not much. I smelled no Hork-Bajir or Taxxons. They must be in the main Pool area already.

This was almost too perfect.

((Most of the people are in the main Pool area,)) I reported. ((You guys have your work cut out for you.))

((Yeah, making it easier for you to do whatever.))

((Just don't get us killed.))

((As long as you don't piss off Visser Three too much, you will not die,)) I pointed out. ((I can demorph and get a hold of a Dracon Beam in less than ten minutes from when you guys start the distraction.))

((What about the people in the court now?))

((As long as you're effective, they'll leave instantly.))

((Then are we ready to go?)) Jake asked.

((Yes, I replied.))

((Let's kick Yeerk butt!)) Rachel shouted. They didn't say anything after that. No doubt they were demorphing to go into battle form.

I waited. Time seemed to go far too slowly. My head was aching listening to Visser Three go on and on about how _he_ captured Aximili now. Arrogant bastard.

Soon, I heard a loud roar. Loud enough to shatter glass. This roar was followed by a second roar, then a third. Everyone already in the court just dropped everything and left, as expected. Visser Three stopped bragging and said, ((Ah; there you are! Get them!))

I felt a lot of vibrations. It was time. I started demorphing. Everything now depended on the next few minutes. I was a human stuck under a table in less than thirty seconds. I crawled out and stood in a hunched position. There were windows showing out into the main Pool area that I could not be seen through. While hunched, I walked over to the very back of the room, where normally the weapons were stored. Of course, there was another keypad.

I punched in Visser Three's code again and the door opened. There were many Dracon Beams stored here. I took two: one for each hand. I haven't held a Beam in years, so the weight was a little awkward. However, as soon as the weapon was in my hand, my memories came back. I knew how to use this thing easily. The trigger was built for Hork-Bajir, but I could use it.

Now with human ears, I could hear the madness much easier. Visser Three was shouting orders, Hork-Bajir were screaming, animals were roaring, and I bet there was a lot of blood.

I swallowed hard. I just stood there, holding the Beams, breathing heavily. This was it. The ultimate confrontation. I would face my past in a few moments. This was my opportunity to make right all that I did.

((Sarah, if you are going to do something, now is the time,)) my precious brother's voice came in my head. His voice was all I needed to make my feet move finally. I was here to save his life. I would face my past, and get my brother away. I made a promise to him when we were younger that I would protect him with my life, and I was going to keep that promise.

((Sarah, hurry, or we all die!)) Rachel shouted.

((She's not coming,)) added Marco.

((Yes, she is!)) Cassie objected.

Yes I was. The first thing I fired on was the overhead light in the food court. TSEEW! And the light went out. No one out there could see me in here now. Some Hork-Bajir looked around curiously, but the majority of them were focused on the five animals they cornered near the other end of the Pool. There were a few handfuls of Hork-Bajir and Taxxon bodies cluttered around my friends' feet. They did some decent damage in their distraction. It made my job easier, as well. Aximili was chained closer to the infestation Pier of the Pool, where, of course, Visser Three was standing as well.

There were hundreds of humans in the cages, and a small handful of Human-Controllers off to the side a bit, away from the fight going on with Jake and the others. I saw their battle morphs for the first time as well. The tiger, near the front of the group, who I assumed was Jake himself, had scars all over his body. The grizzly bear, which I guessed was Rachel, because she valued power, had lost a paw. There was also a wolf and a gorilla, which I couldn't determine who were Cassie and Marco, but the hawk sitting on Rachel's massive shoulder I knew was Tobias.

Before anyone who looked back could ask what the heck caused the light to go out, I fired again. TSEEW! Down went a Hork-Bajir. TSEEW! TSEEW! Two more. I kept firing. TSEEW! TSEEW! TSEEW! The weapons in my hands shook with each pull of the trigger, but my accuracy was perfect. I hit each Hork-Bajir and Taxxon on target and they all fell. The ones cornering my friends were gone. The ones overhead on the piers looking on fell; some actually fell over the rails.

They were all dropping like flies. I kept shooting until Visser Three finally roared, ((WHO IS DOING THAT?!))

The whole Pool was quiet. Even the prisoners in their cages were speechless. I can't remember the last time a Yeerk Pool was this quiet. I don't think it ever happened. I slowly emerged from the shadows. I had a Dracon Beam in each hand, pointing upwards, because then if I needed to use them, they were easier to put in a firing position than if they were facing the ground. Besides, it looked more dramatic that way.

When the Pool's lights hit me, making my presence known to everyone there, I stood up straight, looked Visser Three right in his main eyes and said, with a huge smile on my face, "Hello, Visser. Remember me?"

It seemed like everyone in the Pool looked at Visser Three to see what he'd do. His eyes widened, his stalk eyes swivelled over to look at me, and he hissed quietly, ((You!))

"Yeah. Me. I bet you thought I was dead, huh?"

It only took a split second for him to act, but that split second was the greatest moment of my entire life. ((KILL HER! he roared. KILL HER NOW! RIP HER TO PIECES! RIP HER PIECES INTO PIECES! I WANT HER BODY TO BE REDUCED TO ASH! KILL HER **_RIGHT NOW_**!))

((Holy crap, he's angry!)) Marco said, just as every remaining Hork-Bajir not in a cage and every Taxxon not already eating their fallen comrades came charging towards me. I can't believe how many of them I missed. But it was all too easy to take them down.

TSEEW! TSEEW! TSE-TSE-TSEEW!

They all hit the ground before any of them even reached me. I just stood there, amongst the bodies, the grin never leaving my face, and I said, "You know, Visser, you never should have taught me how to use a Dracon Beam with perfect accuracy. But then, I bet you didn't think it'd come back to haunt you, huh?"

He screamed in pure rage. I actually flinched and most of the humans in the Pool covered their ears. Not that that would do much. ((IF SHE IS NOT DEAD SOON, YOU WILL ALL WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!))

At this point, no one was guarding Jake's group. But even they were too focused on what was going on with me than anything else. All the Human-Controllers came at me now. They were coming rather slowly and fearfully. Whatever. I had perfect accuracy. If I could hit a bird flying high in the air, I could hit a Human-Controller charging me a few feet away.

CLICK. CLICK.

Everyone stopped. Again, it was only a spilt second of wait, in which I looked at the weapons that were completely discharged, then looked back up at Visser Three, who now realized what happened and was smiling the way an Andalite smiles.

"_Shit_!" I said, and time resumed. I tossed the useless weapons to the ground, adopted a fighting stance, with my hands in front of me. The humans were closing on me. I analyzed the situation: there were about a dozen or so of them, unarmed, and most of them were full grown adults. One or two were probably older teens.

Luckily, they were only humans. The first one reached me and instantly tried to attack. I leaned as far back as my back would allow and dodged the punch completely. Then I came back up, bringing my own fist into his face. One down.

Two came at me at once, followed by three more. It was a little more difficult, but I managed to wave around their attacks, trip one of them, who fell on another, kick a human male in the groin, karate-chopped another in the back of her neck and finally knocked the last human out.

Four other humans were standing there, unmoving. I was standing in a mass of bodies. I was breathing harder than I intended to. I haven't been gang-attacked in years. The four of them looked back at their Visser, but judging by his look, they knew they had to attack. I almost pitied them. Almost.

They came at me and I disposed of them all too quickly. I looked back at Visser Three and said, "Are you proud of me? I can take out a dozen opponents at once. You've always hoped I would be able to do that."

((Sarah, have I ever mentioned you are the coolest person ever!)) Marco shouted.

((The toughest girl in the school,)) Rachel added.

I couldn't help but smirk. I felt more confident now. ((I am going to make you wish you were never born, Human!)) Visser Three yelled.

"If I had a nickel for every time you told me that over the past three years, I'd be rich." Some of the prisoners snickered at that.

He snarled in my head. He started walking towards me, completely ignoring everything and everyone else in the Pool. He didn't even notice, or probably didn't care, when Jake and Rachel lumbered towards Aximili to break him free.

((I am going to kill you myself,)) he growled. ((It'll bring me more pleasure that way.))

I spread my arms out invitingly. "You're welcome to try." He charged. He was fast! He'd always been faster than me. As soon as he got within reach, he swiped his tail at me.

FWAPP!

Instinct instructed me to raise my arm up. I blocked! My wrist collided with just the base of his tail blade; enough to stop his attack, but not close enough to slice myself. He FWAPPed again; I blocked again. I could see his movements. Growing up with Andalites trained my eyes as such.

FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP! Block, block, block. With each attack and subsequent block, my arms were getting more and more tired. He was still too fast. My arms were having trouble keeping up. Not to mention the force of his tail was hard. It had to be; an Andalite's tail was designed that way.

((Die, _pthak_!)) he spat. I recognized the word: it was the worst kind of profanity a Yeerk could utter.

I snickered. "You haven't even hit me yet," I pointed out, blocking yet another attack. He snarled again. This was actually kind of fun: pissing off my former master. It made me feel good that I annoyed him so much.

My smugness was repaid in kind. His tail blade finally sliced my wrist. I jumped back, grabbed my wrist with my other hand, but didn't stay like that for long, because of the other FWAPP that I blocked successfully. My wrist was bleeding badly, I felt my eyes blur, but I didn't pass out. I was determined not to. I've bled worse.

((Now I've hit you,)) he said. ((Yet you haven't hit _me_ yet.))

While blocking with my undamaged arm, I raised my other arm to punch him, but he just blocked with his own arm. Damn that Andalite, having more extensions than me!

I kicked instead, but he jumped back. FWAPP! I blocked, just as he stuck out his hoof and managed to trip me. It wasn't a very Andalite-like thing to do, but he did it, and I fell over.

I can't believe how careless I was being. Maybe it was because I was dealing with a blade instead of just regular fighting. Maybe it was because he could slice, kick, block and punch all at the same time. Either way, my carelessness was making me angry. ((You're pathetic, Visser Three said, standing over me. You're more agile than this. I would think growing up with Andalites would have taught you better!))

"Shut up," I muttered, getting back on my feet. FWAPP! I blocked. The blood coming out of my wrist was getting less and less. I still felt a bit light headed. FWAPP! FWAPP! FWAPP! I blocked each attack. I jumped out of the way when he tried to hit me. Lucky for me, Andalite arms are weak, so his moved very slowly in comparison to mine. I brought a fist to punch him, which he FWAPPed at, but I blocked that with my other arm and finally landed a hit. It was closer to his chin than I wanted, but I hit him.

The shock made him stumble. I took that opportunity to attack again. The thrill of hitting him blinded me from his already in motion FWAPP and I didn't notice it until it slit deeply into my shoulder.

"AHH!" I shouted, and almost fell over again. I did, however, manage barely to stay on my feet. My breathing increased and I could no longer try to hide it. My shoulder was now bleeding worse than my wrist had. The loss of blood was making it hard for me to see. Not to mention my movements were also slowing down.

((I have a question,)) I heard Marco say. I had thought they left already. Why were they staying behind? To watch me? ((Why don't you just morph, Sarah? Going up against him as a human is rather stupid, isn't it?))

((She will not morph,)) Aximili pointed out. ((She will fight him the way she always knew him. It is a matter of honour and principle.))

((Seems like a stupid way to die,)) Rachel said.

((She will not die, either.))

I tried to believe him, but the way this was going, Rachel may be more correct. He already slit me twice, and I only hit him once. Barely hit him even. I tried to focus on him, but my eyes were coming in and out of blurs, and I guessed my posture was probably worse than I thought it was.

He came at me and FWAPPed yet again. My arm didn't come up in time to block it, and he slit my other shoulder. "AHH!" I shouted again.

((Sarah!)) Cassie yelled.

((Your movements are pitiful!)) Visser Three yelled at me. I hadn't even noticed I fell over until I opened my eyes again and saw him leering over me. ((You're slow, amateurish and you're not anticipating properly! I taught you better than this, you Human waste!))

"I… I…" My mouth wasn't moving the way I wanted it to. I wanted to say that I was far better than he gave me credit for, and possibly throw in an insult, but I couldn't make the words form.

((You could keep up with me far better when you were five. Why do you think I made you a general?)) My eyes couldn't stay open anymore. I couldn't even hold up my own head. ((Killing you now will almost be pointless.)) He raised his tail. ((Almost.))

FWAPP!


	12. Chapter 11

Ka-TINK!

I was still alive. I managed to crack open an eye to see why. Another Andalite had moved in and blocked Visser Three's attack. He stood right over me, blocking me completely from Visser Three.

((I will not allow you to kill my sister,)) the Andalite warned.

I muttered silently, "Elfangor?"

He swivelled a stalk eye to look at me, and I saw him smile the way an Andalite usually smiles when he's amused by something. ((No; I am Aximili.))

"Oh. You look just like him."

((Thank you.))

((I will kill you all!)) Visser Three yelled. He moved away to get ready for another attack, but my brother was faster. FWAPP! TINK! They fought like this for a while before I felt myself being lifted off the ground.

((Welcome to the Marco Express!)) the ape said to me. ((Please keep arms and legs inside the gorilla at all times. Enjoy the trip!)) My eyes were closing again. The ape shook me roughly and my eyes snapped open. ((Don't fall asleep, Sarah. We'll get you out of here. Trust me.))

"Trust… You?" I whispered as loudly as I could, which I guessed was not very loud at all. "After all the… Trust you showed me… Thus far?"

((I deserve that.)) He was silent for a moment. ((I'm sorry, if it's any consolation.))

"Don't… Worry about it. I would do the… Same thing if I were you."

I could faintly hear the prisoners screaming for help again. We must have been leaving. I heard booming in my mind, ((Get them! Don't let them get away! Kill them!)) but I heard no on coming attack. There must not have been anyone left to attack us.

((Ha! She got rid of all opposition!)) Jake said.

((Better than anything Rachel has done,)) Marco added.

((She has an unfair advantage: she can use a Dracon Beam.))

I smiled as I closed my eyes again. Marco's gorilla arms were very comforting. I felt myself drifting off to sleep…

((Wake up, Sarah!)) I heard Marco shout, as he shook me vigorously. My eyes snapped open again, but way out of focus. ((We need Visser Three's code again. Come on!))

"What?" I didn't understand what he was talking about.

((His code, Sarah! Please!)) Cassie added. ((If you don't put it in, we'll all die!))

"Code?" I blinked.

Jake roared in my head, ((Put in Visser Three's code _now_, Sarah!))

Instantly, I replied, "Yes, sir," and looked at the panel Marco put me in front of. I saw the keyboard and had to seriously think about the code before I remembered it. I typed it in far slower than the first time I did it, and after I finished, my arm felt too weak to move. I looked down at Marco's arms and saw a great deal of my blood stained his fur.

"Sorry," I muttered pitifully.

((Don't worry about it,)) he replied. I felt myself moving again. We were climbing up a staircase. The screams and cries were getting dimmer, but that may have been because I was passing out again. Marco had to shake me again to wake me up.

((Ax, hurry up! We're leaving!)) Tobias shouted.

((Don't make me turn this car around!)) Marco mocked. Jake and Cassie laughed a bit.

((I will kill you all! You will all die! Especially _you_, Sarah!)) I heard the Visser scream, just as a _whoosh_ sounded behind me and sunlight hit my face.

We continued moving. I heard the sounds of grass swishing around and the sun faded in and out. I guessed we were in the forest. We must have left the Pool through a different exit than the one we came in by. That was probably Jake's decision: best not let the Yeerks see what entrances we have access to.

Marco put me on the ground. Even the dirt floor was comfortable. I could still feel blood pouring out of my shoulders. I tried to keep my eyes open, but the focus was off. All I saw was a blur. I could hear voices, but they sounded like they were a million miles away.

"How do we stop the bleeding?"

"Put pressure on the wound."

"Look how big the wound is! Or wounds, rather."

"It was pretty stupid of her to go in like that."

"You can't tell us you don't think she's cool for doing it, Rachel."

"I'm not saying that! In fact, I'm proud. It's just too bad it wasn't me."

"You want a wound like that?"

"I'm not saying that either!"

((Maybe we should get Erek. He might know what to do.))

"One thing's for sure: she can't go to a regular hospital."

There was a silence. That could have been me passing in and out of consciousness, though. "Tobias, can you get Erek and tell him to meet us at Ax's scoop?"

((Can do.))

"Who's going to carry her?"

"I will."

I felt myself being lifted up again, and my arms being gripped from the front. I guessed I was on someone's back. The movement was slower this time, as I was being carried by a human, but it was necessary; zoo animals don't hike through the forest.

I felt completely foolish. Not for being carried, but for losing to Visser Three. Not just losing, but not even putting up a better fight. I barely hit him and almost died. Maybe it was my arrogance, but it was the greatest disappointment in my life. I felt embarrassed, too. I thought for sure I could kill him with my bare hands. My bare, human hands. I was foolish to think so.

"It's not foolish to think you can win," Rachel said. "It's foolish to think you can do it all by yourself."

Oh, crap! Did I say that out loud? It was meant for my head. I managed to speak again. "I spent months planning his destruction and the best way to do it. I swore I would kill him for my brother's death, and with that opportunity, I failed."

((I've failed on several occasions as well,)) Aximili confessed to me. ((It just means I need more training. Visser Three's host body is an Andalite war-prince. He has been through more battles than you or I combined. He has much experience.))

"And I'm just a novice compared to him," I muttered.

((Yes. But if we work together, we can defeat him together. I've learned that on my tenure to this planet. Teamwork is essential.))

"Yeah," Jake agreed, "and as a member of this team, your experience and work are essential, too."

"Welcome aboard!" Marco said from below me. He was carrying me. "Check your sanity at the door and come on in!"

"But don't be too reckless, because that's my job," Rachel added.

"That's right! You're _Xena: Warrior Princess_," Marco said. "So what does that make Sarah?"

"_Lara Croft: Tomb Raider_," Cassie suggested. Everyone laughed their approval.

I smiled faintly. They welcomed me. I was officially a part of them. I finally had their trust. And all I had to do was almost get myself killed. I would have laughed if I had the energy…


	13. Epilogue

I didn't get back home until late that night. It was gloomy, but not raining yet. I reached the front entrance to The Hole and the old lady was standing there. When she saw me, she got up off the porch and came over to me.

"Where were you? I was worried!" she said.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "You never cared when I got home before?"

"I know, but I do now. You're the best behaved kid here. I didn't want anything to happen to you."

"Thanks." I walked passed her to get into the door.

I got up the porch steps when she said, "Wait a minute." I paused, looking at her. "I need to confess something: when that police officer first dropped you off here, I was actually going to take you back to the station the next day."

"What changed your mind?"

She smiled. "When you said you wanted to go to school, I realized then that you weren't like the other kids here. I decided that you were probably just misunderstood, and the best way to give you your chance at life was to actually give you a chance. Everyone else in The Hole has a curfew, but not you."

"Really? I didn't know that."

She nodded. "I don't hold you to the same restrictions because I know you probably have something big and important to do, which is why you always tend to come in late or not at all. As long as you don't come in a police car, because then my hopes of you becoming greater than the rest of us won't be accurate."

I smiled. "Thank you," I said, sincerely.

She grinned as well. "I waited for days to see a smile cross your lips. What happened that changed you?"

"Friends," I answered simply.

She came up to me and patted my shoulder in a very motherly-like way. "I knew you'd end up making friends." A short pause. "Now let's get inside and get some cocoa before it starts raining."

I smiled again, and followed her inside. And that night, for the first time in years, I had pleasant dreams instead of nightmares. My life was finally looking up…


End file.
